Bhola Cyclone

Bhola Cyclone Formation

The Bhola cyclone began with the help of a leftover tropical storm that was breaking up in the Pacific Ocean. This contributed to a tropical depression that formed November 8th, 1970 in the Bay of Bengal. It traveled north from there toward east Pakistan and got stronger. By November 11th the wind speed has reached between 85-90 miles per hour. It made landfall the afternoon of November 12th. 

The Cyclone flooded densely populated lowland plains of the Ganges Delta and wiped out hundreds of villages overnight on November 12th during an above-average lunar high tide. The storm surged from 20 feet to 35 feet on the Ganges Delta. People were interviewed after the event, and they described horrific scenes of watching their children being swept away by the strong current. 

Government officials said that the majority of the dead from the impact of the cyclone were women and children because they were not strong enough to hold on to trees when the water came. They predicted that the water knocked over the weak ones and drowned them. The average wind speed was 140 miles per hour. Coastal areas like Tazumuddin were destroyed, with half the population missing or were dead. 85% of homes in the area were affected by the Bhola, they were destroyed or severely damaged along the coast.

The aftermath was almost worse than the initial impact. Very little to no food, the water was contaminated so either people were dying from dehydration or from diseases, and people were dying from infection. A lot of death could have been prevented if a message was broadcasted out on the radio. However, there was no signal sent out over the radio.