Bangladesh cyclone toll at 328

[lligrd]

Source: Reuters

By Anis Ahmed
11 minutes ago

DHAKA (Reuters) - A severe cyclone killed at least 328 people in Bangladesh, triggering a 15-foot (5-metre) high tidal surge that devastated three coastal towns and forced the evacuation of nearly one million people, officials said on Friday.

Local officials and Red Crescent workers said at least 328 deaths have already been confirmed while hundreds more were injured or missing following the cyclone, which struck overnight packing winds of 250 kph (155 mph).

"The death count is rising fast as we get more information from the affected districts," an official at the food and disaster ministry said.

He put the latest official confirmed death toll at 247. "It may go much higher," he said, adding that some areas have not been reached yet.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071116/ts_nm/bangladesh_storm_dc

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Death toll still rising - 425 or more

Report: Bangladesh Cyclone Kills 425

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A cyclone that slammed into Bangladesh's coast with 140 mph winds killed at least 425 people before heading inland and losing strength, a local news agency said Friday.

The government, which has acknowledged problems accounting for the dead, has a far lower toll from Tropical Cyclone Sidr. The storm roared across the country's southwestern coast late Thursday with driving rain and high waves, leveling homes and forcing the evacuation of 650,000 villagers, officials said.

Downpours and staggering winds also spawned a water surge 4 feet high that swept through low-lying areas and some offshore islands, leaving them under water, according to Nahid Sultana, an official at a cyclone control room in the capital, Dhaka.

Relief workers struggled Friday to bring aid to areas devastated by the initial impact of storm, even though Sidr had weakened into a tropical storm and was moving across the country to the northeast, with wind speed falling to 37 mph.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jY0QrS8yNcOHGn_pvMb7pzUoNzbwD8SUPR4O1

[nam78_two]

2. K&R :-(.nt