Cyclone Aila`s Aftermath

Inundating storm tides, destructive winds and flooding rain swept ashorealong with Tropical Cyclone Aila, which made landfall on eastern India Monday.The death toll from the storm has reached 115 with many thousands displaced.

The number of homes flattened was also in the thousands. Most of the toll wassplit between Bangladesh and the Indian state West Bengal.

At the time of landfall, which was near midday local time, highest sustainedwinds were at least 75 mph, equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane. During thetime of landfall, the storm was strengthening and may have led to a higher thantypical storm surge.

As a Category 1 hurricane, Aila was capable of a storm tide reaching atleast 4-5 feet above normal. The storm surge swamped stretches of the vastlow-lying Sundarbans, a landscape of low-lying islands and tidal inlets. Someflood dikes were burst with many homes inundated. Drowning was apparently thecause of most deaths, as is almost always true of tropical cyclones. Manyfishing villages were located in the path of Aila's storm tides and hammeringwinds.

Aila directly hit the Indian state of West Bengal, which borders Bangladesh.

In Calcutta, the storm unleashed damaging 50- to 60-mph wind gusts and floodingdownpours. The city was spared the worst of the storm's wind and tidalflooding, as it lies about 100 miles north of the open Bay of Bengal.

In southwestern Bangladesh, which shares the Sundarbans with India, thestorm's severe wind and storm tides took a toll of life and property. Hereagain, it was the fishing villages that bore the brunt of the storm's wrath.

As of Tuesday afternoon, local time, Aila has broken up and dissipated nearthe border of India and northern Bangladesh. Heavy rain fell along the Himalayaof Bhutan through eastern Nepal swelling rivers flowing south to the lowland ofIndia northeast India. Highest rainfall was at least 10 inches along theHimalaya FoothillsBangladesh is extremely susceptible to storm surges from tropical cyclones,and the country has been the victim of some of history's deadliest storms. Acyclone in 1970 killed as many as 500,000 people. Cyclones in 1991 and 1997each left 150,000 people dead. Fortunately, Aila was not nearly as strong asthese past cyclones.

The government of India took no chances and had begun to mobilize reliefefforts and rescue operations prior to Aila's arrival.

The cyclone disrupted air travel in the region. At Kolkata, the West BengalCapital, outgoing flights were suspended and incoming flights werere-routed.