KHULNA, Bangladesh - A powerful cyclone packing 150 mile per hour winds slammed into Bangladesh last night, killing at least 41 people and forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes, officials said.
Cyclone Sidr leveled homes as it sent driving rains and high waves across the lowland coastal areas before weakening to a tropical storm by this morning, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.
Local government officials across the region said that at least 41 people had been killed, mainly from collapsing homes and falling debris, and 650,000 people had been evacuated.
Tropical Cyclone Sidr swept in from the Bay of Bengal, buffeting the southwestern coastal areas within a 155-mile radius of its eye with heavy rain and storm surges predicted to reach 20 feet high.
Sidr's eye crossed the Khulna-Barisal coast near the Sundarbans mangrove forests, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department said.
About 3.2 million people were expected to be evacuated in all, said Ali Imam Majumder, a senior government official in Dhaka, the capital.
"We have taken all precautions," Majumder said. Authorities dispatched food, medicines, tents, and blankets to the affected areas and suspended operations at the country's two main seaports, Chittagong and Mongla.
