THE 12 WORST HURRICANES OF ALL TIME by Susan E Hamen
1 Bhola Cyclone Batters Asia’s Bay of Bengal One of the worst storms in history struck Asia’s Bay of Bengal on November 11 1970 The Bhola Cyclone battered villages in present day Bangladesh Ocean waters rose 20 30 feet 6 9 m above normal Islands and low-lying coastlines were completely covered by water people were asleep when it hit In addition people did not receive any warning of the coming cyclone Officials saw the storm on radar but there was no way to share weather information People in affected areas did not have televisions or radios to receive updates People in these areas fought to stay alive during the storm surge Some climbed onto rooftops Others scaled trees There was no higher ground that people could flee to The powerful cyclone featured wind speeds over 140 miles per hour 225 km h Entire villages were wiped out At least 300,000 people died making the Bhola Cyclone one of the deadliest weather events in history The storm was so deadly in part because it struck at night Many
Low-lying coastline was devastated by the storm surge 300 Number of countries that sent aid to cyclone victims In 1970 the Bhola Cyclone devastated villages in present-day Bangladesh People climbed onto roofs or up trees to escape the storm surge The death toll was high because people had no warning of the storm HOW HURRICANES TYPHOONS AND CYCLONES ARE DIFFERENT The terms hurricane typhoon and cyclone all describe a weather system of rotating storms The terms are different because of where the storms begin Storms forming in the North Atlantic Northeast Pacific and central North Pacific are called hurricanes Northwest Pacific storms are known as typhoons And storms in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean are called cyclones
