TC SIDR Aftermath : Photos,Videos and News

[drezee]

cnn.com

AP: United News of Bangladesh says at least 1,100 people have died in Cyclone Sidr.

[RattleMan]

CNN:

United News of Bangladesh says at least 1,100 people have died in the cyclone that swept across the country's southwest, The Associated Press reports. Video footage from the height of the storm showed high, rolling waves along the coastal areas and winds lashing palms trees.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/1 ... index.html

[wxman57]

CNN:

United News of Bangladesh says at least 1,100 people have died in the cyclone that swept across the country's southwest, The Associated Press reports. Video footage from the height of the storm showed high, rolling waves along the coastal areas and winds lashing palms trees.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/1 ... index.html

I checked out the video and it was taken during the day before the storm hit. Was there another video shot during the night when the storm made landfall? All I saw was light rain, maybe 20 mph winds, and large swells rolling into the coast maybe 8-12 hours before landfall.

[CrazyC83]

Three US Navy ships have been dispatched to Bangladesh, according to a USA Today article.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/ ... PageReturn

[Derek Ortt]

there has been no video during the landfall time

[btangy]

Harrowing account of the ordeal: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/682

“We are here in the blackest black of darkness and God only knows what’s coming our way next... How many are dead? There are many more dead than the 500 reported by the Bangladesh government. Untold thousands of people are still missing and that is one reason the fatalities cannot be accurately reported.... In the villages people are out on the roads with nowhere to go, and some of them fearing each other now that they lost their homes and everything they ever had.”

[Derek Ortt]

it seems that these are still WIND deaths. No word yet from coastal areas it appears

[CrazyC83]

it seems that these are still WIND deaths. No word yet from coastal areas it appears

It could be days, since they are probably either still flooded or completely blocked off.

[cycloneye]

Photo of people standing around the devastation. Look at that house in the back.

[Derek Ortt]

that looks like wind damage still

[cycloneye]

Another photo showing the devastation.Derek,there is water here and those trees are standing.What do you think?

[cycloneye]

New VIdeo from CNN

[Derek Ortt]

hard to say

very well could be wind damage and the water on the ground rainfall

I'd expect to see nothing let of the structures if that was tidal surge damage. The remaining debris pieces look quite large compared to those we saw from katrina and Rita

[fromBd]

The hurricane has landed and it has left of trail of destruction.Large trees and buildings are uprooted, cars and boats lying upside down in the street. Few of the district submerged in rough water.Due to large uprooted trees road communication is totally disconnected from the capital to south coastal districts.National power greed line collapsed and power shut off in the whole country. The economic impact would be severe on local people in the area devastated by the storm specially for peasants who would have harvested their corps in weeks time.Death of many animals has been reported from Shundarban mangrove forest.

Television news medias are reporting live from the worst effected areas and the devastation looks massive. In few of the districts 80% of the thatched huts were smashed.

In spite of all these,I am happy to report that, a major catastrophe has been averted. The administration worked tirelessly to move people to safer place and loss life is not in the millions what many of us feared when we were following the storm. As per the most latest report, the worst effected districts in the coast like Patuakhali, Khulna, Barishal has reported around 500 death. The number is expected to rise to 1000. Many of those were due to building collapse and tree collapse.

The response of the alert and preparedness was both impressive. All the holiday of govt officials were canceled and army and navy was kept standby for rescue operations who have started working.

Storm just brushed the city, where I live. There was no water,electricity and gas from the morning.But, by now 1500 hrs all the regular service has been restored and life moves on.

I thank all of you in the board for taking such interest in the storm and I am genuinely moved by the concern you have shown. I am quite happy with the response the people have made in this storm, which proves that Bangladesh is not only a low lying delta but a country of 140 million resilient people.

[fromBd]

Few of the cities are one to five miles from coast.One city was emerged totally inside water during the storm. Now, the water has moved as per reports.

I think, the casualty will not increase significently from surge. Many people who does not leave their home in fear of security of their valuables tie them up on coconut tree during the storm and the surge.
However stupid it may sound, this is a very much widespread practice amongst low income group.
Besides the surge does not come suddenly like tsunami so there is always time for one to move to a higher ground unless you are living in a very remote and flat island like dublar chor.

The financial loss would be colosal for the the peasants, who just recovered from a massive flood in march april. And also the govt will struggle to balance its resources to restore normal order for the electricity,water and road communication.

[Derek Ortt]

http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/19216/ ... 5438-1.htm

the last sentence probably shows that we need to take many of the news reports with a grain of salt. Apparently, Hurricane Andrew struck Los Angeles and not Homestead

[cycloneye]

I thank all of you in the board for taking such interest in the storm and I am genuinely moved by the concern you have shown. I am quite happy with the response the people have made in this storm, which proves that Bangladesh is not only a low lying delta but a country of 140 million resilient people.

First,welcome to storm2k and enjoy it all.and than you for those words.We here in storm2k care about what happens around the world in terms of any damage and tragic news from anywhere and in this case from Bangladesh.My prayers go to all in that country and hopefully all returns to normal as soon as possible.

[Cyclenall]

Link: http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/19216/ ... 5438-1.htm

This article isn't really accurate and is a bit behind in the death total. Here are some things in the article I strongly question:

Aid agency CARE's spokesman in Bangladesh, Jamil Ahmed, points to another factor behind the falling death tolls - the huge advances in meteorology.

"The damage could have been much more serious. This time the weather forecasting system and regional preparations worked very well. People have already been very active for the last two to three days. Ten years ago weather forecasting systems were not so good."

If they are talking about the IMD, they have no clue what their talking about. I can't say that though if it's a Bangladesh meteorology office.

"The Bay of Bengal is like a funnel - cyclones are sucked into Bangladesh," Akbar says. "Floods are a reality. We cannot run away - we have to learn to cope and live with it."

Is there any science to back this claim up?

And even if the death toll remains in the hundreds, that is still hundreds more than would have been killed in a rich country. The year after 143,000 people were killed in Bangladesh a similar cyclone hit Los Angeles; just 18 people died.

1. The death toll is already past the hundreds level
2. What is this so called "cyclone" (hurricane) in 1992 (one year after the 1991 cyclone) that hit Los Angeles and killed 18 people? Sounds completely made up or confused with something else as those storms are extremely rare and this was a bad example to use. It said something about it being "similar" which is impossible since no hurricane strength storm has ever hit California officially) I checked and nothing happened there those two years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ca ... hurricanes

From here, they may have confused up Tropical Depression Hyacinth and Hurricane Joanne which were both in 1972 (they may have made an error saying a year after 143,000 died which was 1991 or meant the 1970 storm but that is still 2 years off, which is totally false).

This is all confusing, lol .

EDIT:

http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/19216/2007/10/16-165438-1.htm

the last sentence probably shows that we need to take many of the news reports with a grain of salt. Apparently, Hurricane Andrew struck Los Angeles and not Homestead

It's funny you found the same article as I did. Even if they meant Hurricane Andrew, wasn't the death toll 52 and not 18?

[Coredesat]

Andrew killed 55 people.

To be blunt, that article is complete and utter garbage and loaded with factual errors.

[CrazyC83]

For all we know, it may still have killed 100,000 ...since large areas haven't been reported from yet...