Super-cyclone Amphan hits the Bay of Bengal

Bay of Bengal Battered by Super-Cyclone Amphan - 1st June 2020

Once again the Bay of Bengal has been ravaged by a severe storm, with super-cyclone Amphan battering the coast of Bangladesh and eastern India on 20th May. It brought storm surges, tsunamis and torrential rain causing devastation that will impact the region for months to come.

Thanks to advance flood warnings, millions of people in both countries had been evacuated from stricken areas although Covid-19 made these mass evacuations problematic. Social distancing rules meant that storm shelters couldn’t be fully utilised and many living in storm-struck regions feared contracting coronavirus in packed shelters and refused the order to go. The Indian Navy, placed on high alert, was primed to support any caught in the cyclone's wake.

Bangladesh has seen thousands of homes ripped to pieces, with many more severely scarred and countless villages in low-lying areas completely inundated by the deluge, including the Sunderbans - swampy mangrove islands home to over four million people. With this region now completely isolated from the mainland, authorities caution that it’s still too early to accurately gauge the number of casualties there.

Tropical cyclones start off as a group of hot water storms caused by warm, humid air rising above the ocean from convection currents. The rotation of the Earth then pushes these winds to spiral into a frenzy with deadly and devastating potential.

Environmentalists are concerned that the area is becoming increasingly prone to tropical storms due to climate change. Cyclone Amphan is the most ferocious storm to hit the Bay in over a decade but just one of a number of deadly storms expected this season. This extreme weather is becoming a more frequent occurrence due to global warming, with the impact of each storm’s destructive force felt many years on.

While the initial impact of the storm is devastating in and of itself, even more damaging are the lasting effects of tidal flooding, which sees farmland saturated with salt water.

Although a massive clean-up operation of the region is already underway, it will take months before the land is able to sustain crops. For people whose lives the storm has shattered, this recovery will take even longer.