Storms wreak havoc in S. Asia, N. America

DHAKA, Bangladesh/VALLEY VIEW, Texas — A cyclone flooded coastal villages, blew away thatched roofs and left hundreds of thousands of people without power on Monday in southern Bangladesh and eastern India, while powerful storms killed at least 18 people and left a wide trail of destruction across the US Southern Plains and Ozarks.

Dozens of Bangladeshi villages were flooded after flood embankments were either washed away or damaged by the storm surge, TV stations reported. Nearly 800,000 people had been evacuated from vulnerable areas in Bangladesh on Sunday.

The death toll from the cyclone has risen to at least 10 people, with more than 30,000 homes destroyed and tens of thousands more damaged, local officials said on Monday.

In India's West Bengal state, roofs on thatched houses were blown away while electric poles and trees were uprooted in some coastal districts. Four people died from electrocution, authorities said, taking the death toll in the state to six. Heavy downpours also inundated streets and homes in low-lying areas of Kolkata city.

Cyclone Remal weakened considerably after making landfall in Bangladesh's Patuakhali district early on Monday morning with sustained winds of 111 kilometers per hour.

Affecting airports

India's Kolkata airport reopened after being shut on Sunday, and Bangladesh shut down the airport in the southeastern city of Chattogram and canceled all domestic flights to and from Cox's Bazar. Loading and unloading in the Chittagong seaport was halted and more than a dozen ships moved from jetties to the deep sea as a precaution.

Volunteers helped Bangladesh's hundreds of thousands of evacuees move to up to 9,000 cyclone shelters. All schools in the region were closed until further notice.

Remal was the first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal ahead of this year's monsoon season, which runs from June to September.

Over the weekend, at least 18 people were killed across central United States as tornadoes and other extreme storms hit several states including Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Rescue efforts were continuing and hundreds of thousands of people were without power after the storms struck the Southern Plains region beginning late on Saturday.

The storms threatened to bring more violent weather to other parts of the Midwest. By Monday, the greatest risk was forecast to shift to the east, covering a broad swath of the country from Alabama to near New York.

The latest bout of extreme weather came just days after a powerful tornado ripped through a rural Iowa town, killing four people.

Meanwhile, the US was preparing for what government forecasters have called a potentially "extraordinary" 2024 Atlantic hurricane season beginning on June 1.

Agencies via Xinhua