Monday in 1999: Super cyclone hits India, thousands killed

[Chacor]

On October 29, 1999, Category 4-equivalent (it had earlier been a category 5) Cyclone 05B hit the Indian state of Orissa.

It is thought to have killed at least 10,000 people and left an estimated 1.5 million homeless. It was among the worst storms ever to hit India.

Tens of thousands of people were left stranded, the water around them contaminated and awash with corpses.

Many died from starvation and water-borne diseases in the weeks immediately after the cyclone, as the rescue workers could not reach them quickly enough.

Work is still going on to rebuild the devastated communities following the Orissa cyclone, but voluntary organisations working in the area have described the pace of reconstruction as "excruciatingly slow".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/date ... 691573.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_05B_%281999%29

[Cyclone1]

Wow... that's nothing short of a catastrophe.

[Ptarmigan]

Indian Ocean Cyclones are really vicious because they can kill a lot of people. However, Indian Ocean is not that active.

[CrazyC83]

Indian Ocean Cyclones are really vicious because they can kill a lot of people. However, Indian Ocean is not that active.

A Katrina-sized storm hitting Bangladesh could easily have a death toll over 2,000,000...it is probably the single worst place on the planet for storm surge...

[Derek Ortt]

they had that in 1991, only much stronger than Katrina

kileld 150K, not 2 million

[HurricaneBill]

they had that in 1991, only much stronger than Katrina

kileld 150K, not 2 million

Don't forget the Bhola Cyclone in 1970. That struck Bangladesh during high tide. Based on satellite images, it was estimated to be a Category 3 around 100KT. The surge caused catastrophic damage, killing possibly as many as 500,000 people. The Bhola Cyclone is the deadliest tropical cyclone on record.

[CrazyC83]

they had that in 1991, only much stronger than Katrina

kileld 150K, not 2 million

Don't forget the Bhola Cyclone in 1970. That struck Bangladesh during high tide. Based on satellite images, it was estimated to be a Category 3 around 100KT. The surge caused catastrophic damage, killing possibly as many as 500,000 people. The Bhola Cyclone is the deadliest tropical cyclone on record.

That is correct and what I am using as the basis for the mega-disaster potential since the population of Bangladesh is much greater today than in 1971, plus that was only a marginal Cat 3 (and never more than a Cat 3, unlike Katrina).

[Derek Ortt]

the 1991 cyclone though struck as a Katrina sized cat 5.

They have better shelters today than they had in 1970. However, if people IGNORE the warnings like they did in 1970, then of course there could be major problems

[HurricaneBill]

the 1991 cyclone though struck as a Katrina sized cat 5.

I though it weakened to a 4 prior to landfall.

[Derek Ortt]

maybe it weakened to 135KT

[Ptarmigan]

the 1991 cyclone though struck as a Katrina sized cat 5.

They have better shelters today than they had in 1970. However, if people IGNORE the warnings like they did in 1970, then of course there could be major problems

The 1991 TC hit with 125 KT winds.

[HurricaneBill]

Super Typhoon Gay landfalled on India as a Category 5 in 1989. Fortunately, Gay was a midget storm that made landfall in a sparsely populated area, so the death toll was only around 50.

[PhillyWX]

Super Typhoon Gay landfalled on India as a Category 5 in 1989. Fortunately, Gay was a midget storm that made landfall in a sparsely populated area, so the death toll was only around 50.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Gay_%281989%29

It also hit Thailand as well (before it went into the Bay of Bengal) and was responsible for over a thousand deaths in total, only 39 in India.