TERRIFIC CYCLONE

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 21931, 9 January 1943, Page 2

TERRIFIC CYCLONE

DEVASTATION IN INDIA 11,000 PERSONS KILLED MILLION PEOPLE SUFFER (United Press Assn.—Elec. T6l. Copyright) (Received Jan. 9, 3.15 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 8 It is revealed that 3000 square miles were affected by the terrific cyclone which swept south-western Bengal last October, when at least 11,000 people were killed. The cyclone swept up a tidal wave 26 feet high from the Bay of Bengal. It devastated a considerable area of Mindapore and 24 districts in the Parganas area. About 25,000 dwellings were destroyed. Almost every house throughout the area was damaged. Seventyfive thousand head of cattle, threequarters of the area’s stock, perished. More than 1,000,000 persons were affected, 500,000 of whom suffered severe loss or injury. An eye-witness said houses fell as though made of paper. Iron roofs crushed many to death in the streets. Uprooted trees blew away like straws. The roaring of the wind and rain, coupled with the crashing and crackling of houses and trees, made speech impossible. Thousands of poisonous snakes and crocodiles floating on the flood waters made rescue difficult. Innumerable bodies within a few days filled the air with a foul stench. One person of 150 survived in one village, and 132 families of 136 were wiped out in another village. The full extent of the disaster was not revealed previously because the information would have been valuable to the Japanese. Communications were so seriously disrupted that the Japanese might have taken advantage of the district’s plight.