An area of disturbed weather in the Bay of Bengal developed into TropicalCyclone 02B Saturday night. The cyclone is moving northward and is expected tostrengthen before making landfall near the border of India and BangladeshMonday.As of early Sunday morning, maximum sustained winds were near 50 mph withhigher gusts. It is expected to make landfall with winds of 65-70 mph. Justunder hurricane force. Winds of this magnitude will generate a storm surge of4-5 feet. Bangledesh is very low lying, so the storm surge will likely impact agood number of people.
Bangladesh is extremely susceptible to storm surges from tropical cyclones.
The deadliest storms in world history have hit Bangladesh. A cyclone in 1970killed as many as 500,000 people. Cyclones in 1991 and 1997 each left 150,000people dead. Fortunately, this cyclone is not expected to be nearly as strongas these past cyclones.
Flooding is also expected to affect eastern India and Myanmar. Rain hasalready begun across these areas. Due to the slow movement of the cyclone,heavy rain could continue into Tuesday or Wednesday.
Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel
