Millions of people were evacuated over the previous 48 hours as Category 5, Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Sidr prepared to smash into Bangladesh's shoreline with top winds reaching 240 k/h (149 miles per hour). A senior official for the Bengali government, Ali Imam Majumder, said that they expected to evacuate around 3.2 million people in all, adding, "We have taken all precautions."
Tropical Cyclone Sidr threatened Bangladesh and Eastern India as it churned in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday
Shahjahan Alam, an official with Bangladesh's Meteorological Department, said the cyclone's eye is expected to hit 85 miles southwest of capital city Dhaka later on Thursday.
There is a great concern that many of the badly needed cyclone shelters are not in adequate condition to stand the cyclones heavy winds.
In spite of those concerns, however, the casualty rate is expected to be minimal because of the efforts, nothing like the tragic 1991 cyclone which caused an estimated 138,000 deaths and displacing another 10 million.
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
.svg)
