Tropical cyclone Sidr ( Bay of Bengal )

[George Kourounis]

Unfortunately, I expect there to be tremendous loss of life with this storm. Bangladesh has a horrific history when it comes to cyclones. I'm surprised by how little news coverage there is of this event. I guess if it's not happening in North America, the media here doesn't seem to care.

Sad really.

I hope they're as well prepared as they can be. It's going to be rough.

George Kourounis
www.stormchaser.ca

 

[Terry Tyler]

Unfortunately, I expect there to be tremendous loss of life with this storm. Bangladesh has a horrific history when it comes to cyclones. I'm surprised by how little news coverage there is of this event. I guess if it's not happening in North America, the media here doesn't seem to care.

Sad really.

I hope they're as well prepared as they can be. It's going to be rough.

i was just about to say, i havent ever seen a storm with that kind of satellite presentation...and i just only heard about it last night...

look at the demographics...that is one of the most densely population, and poorest areas in the world...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/World_population_density_map.PNG

then, look at the topography..

http://bangladeshtornadoes.org/topasia11.jpg

the resulting floods, and mudslides will be catastrophic...let alone the damage caused by the storm surge and winds...

looks to be weakening a tad though, and its moving really fast...so hopefully they'll ride it out...

 

[Josh Morgerman]

The cyclone came ashore earlier apparently as a Cat 4. The core's presentation on infrared and especially microwave imagery seemed to deteriorate markedly in the hours prior to landfall-- sort of like 'canes landfalling on the N Gulf coast-- and I think the JTWC's estimate of 130 kt might be a tad high. However, it was still a severe cyclone and-- given its point of landfall and heading-- I imagine the storm-surge flooding has been extensive.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Horrible news coming out -

AP reporting at least 1,100 have died due to the cyclone.

 

[Saul Trabal]

The death toll is now over 2,000. 5,000 injured, over 3 million homeless. Read more here:

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=865&tstamp=200711

George Kourounis:

I'm surprised by how little news coverage there is of this event. I guess if it's not happening in North America, the media here doesn't seem to care.

I'm not surprised in the least. In fact, it's one of the things that infuriates me as an American-and not just with this tragedy, either. There's a whole world out there, but the media here is mostly interested in American stories. Things like this barely register as a blip. It needs to be something on the scale of the 2004 tsunami that killed a quarter of a million people to register here.

It's too bad, since folks could learn more by looking beyond their boundaries.

 

[Stuart Robinson]

BBC News now reporting that over 10,000 are belived to have died.

 

[Saul Trabal]

BBC News now reporting that over 10,000 are belived to have died.

Oh...damn.

Those poor people. The suffering must be unimaginable. What gets me the most is that it's the impoverished that have it the worst-and too many of them fall through the cracks.

 

[Marko Korosec]

Incredible sad news from Bangladesh...poor people. I am affraid the death toll could be even higher as this was a CAT 4 cyclone close to the very populated areas.

I am wondering if someone have any rainfall data from those regions? I was searching the web, but no luck.

 

[B Ozanne]

Bangladesh is no stranger to cyclone disasters. One look at the positive side is that more people were not killed.

In 1970 a cyclone killed an estimated 500,000 people in the same region. In 1991 another cyclone killed 100,000 to 200,000. Now we are looking at 10,000 to 15,000 fatalities, from what looks like the strongest of the three storms.

Statistically its a remarkable decline. Obviously, it needs improving. Given the incredible poverty in the region I am impressed with the progress. Even with America's vast resources 1,500 people still died from Katrina.

If you are looking for more news I find the BBC to have much better coverage than the US stations. On another note, the day before landfall I came across a Calcutta newspaper online that had no mention of the impending storm.

 

[Helge Tuschy]

@Marko
Rain was not that big problem, as the storm crossed the area quite fast.
It again became more interesting further towards the northeast as the remnants of Sidr were forced to cross the mountains.
The worst indeed was the storme surge, as it looks like it was the main reason for so much loss of life.
(http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/publications_dir/precipitation_msg.html)