Cyclone death toll tops 1,700

Hundreds of thousands of survivors were trapped today as rescuers fought to reach towns along Bangladesh’s coast ravaged by a powerful cyclone that killed at least 1,723 people.

Tropical Cyclone Sidr, the deadliest storm to hit the country in a decade, destroyed tens of thousands of homes in south-west Bangladesh on Thursday and ruined much-needed crops just before harvest season.

More than a million coastal villagers were forced to evacuate to government shelters.

The official death toll rose to 1,723 and authorities feared the figure could increase as the country works to recover.

The government scrambled today to join international agencies and local officials in the rescue mission, deploying military helicopters, thousands of troops and naval ships.

Rescuers trying to get food and water to people stranded by flooding struggled to clear roads that were so bad they said they would have to use bicycles.

Along the coast, 150 mph winds flung small ferries ashore like toy boats, cutting off migrant fishing communities who live on and around hundreds of tiny islands across the area’s web of river channels.

Many of the evacuees who managed to return home today found their straw and bamboo huts had been flattened by the storm.

“We survived, but what we need now is help to rebuild our homes,” Chand Miah, a resident of Maran Char, a small island in Khulna district, said.

The government has allocated 350 million takas (£2.6 million) in emergency aid for rebuilding houses in the cyclone-affected areas, a government statement said.

Bangladesh’s interim government head, Fakhruddin Ahmed, visited some of the affected areas and assured cyclone victims of government assistance.

Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed was expected to visit some of the worst-hit areas in coming days.

Aid organisations feared that food shortages and contaminated water could lead to widespread problems if people remain stranded.

Television images showed crowds of people scrambling beneath military helicopters as troops dropped food packages through open hatches.

At least 1.5 million coastal villagers had fled to shelters where they were given emergency rations, said senior government official Ali Imam Majumder in Dhaka.

The government’s early warning programme saved a vast number of lives, Renata Dessallien, UN Resident Coordinator, said in a statement.

Many parts of Dhaka, the biggest city in this nation of 150 million people, remained without power or water today. The storm killed at least four people in the city.

Barguna district, where at least 474 people died, was the worst hit area, followed by neighbouring Patuakhali, where 385 people were killed, said a military spokesman.

More than 4,000 people were injured, he said. Army medical teams were working in the affected area.

An estimated 2.7 million people were affected and 773,000 houses were damaged, according to the Disaster Ministry of Disaster Management. Roughly 250,000 cattle and poultry perished, and crops were destroyed on nearly 77,450 acres of land.

But the full picture of the devastation is still unclear because the storm wreaked havoc on the country’s electricity and telephone lines, affecting even areas that were spared a direct hit.

Several foreign governments have pledged to help Bangladesh recover. The German government offered €500,000 while the European Union released €1.5m in relief aid. The Rome-based World Food Programme was rushing food to the country and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society was dispatching thousands of workers to stricken areas.

Sidr spawned a 4ft high storm surge that swept through low-lying areas and some offshore islands, leaving them under water, said Nihau Sultana, an official of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management.