Strong storm in India kills 89, 100,000 homes destroyed

Mumbai - A high velocity storm has left at least 89 people dead and tens of thousands of homes destroyed in the India-Bangladesh region. Authorities have called upon leaders to cancel their holidays and assist in the relief efforts.

Local media reports put the official death toll between 77 and 90 and hundreds were injured after a powerful storm ravaged West Bengal in India and Bangladesh, according to Xinhua. The storm has demolished around 100,000 homes and left many areas without power. The powerful storm occurred on Tuesday evening at around 10:30 p.m. with winds as strong 160 km/h and the worst-hit villages, according to Al Jazeera, were Hematabad, Raiganj and Kiran Dighi, where majority of the bodies were found dead under collapsed walls of their homes. It is expected that the death toll will continue to rise within the coming days “The storm ripped through four blocks of North Dinajpur district, about 600km north of Kolkata [the state capital]," said West Bengal’s civil defense minister, Srikumar Mukherjee. Authorities in the region say those who have evacuated their homes and homeless people have been sent to local schools for shelter. Hundreds more were sent to the hospital with severe injuries. The two states have asked public officials to give up their holidays in order to provide relief to those affected by the deadly storm. Nearly one year ago, India was hit by a similar storm named Cyclone Aila, which hit the same regions and killed more than 155 people. BBC News reports that Tuesday’s storms comes as nine Indian states experience a massive heat wave that have temperatures going above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).