After Cyclone Hits India and Bangladesh, the Waiting Begins

The authorities acted quickly to move people from the cyclone’s path, but worried they might be putting them into the path of the coronavirus.

“The next 24 hours are very crucial,” said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, India’s chief meteorologist, The Associated Press reported. “This is a long haul.” The cyclone washed away bridges connecting Indian islands to the mainland and left many areas without utilities, the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters Wednesday evening. Ms. Banerjee said that while a clearer picture of the devastation would emerge by Thursday, there had been at least seven deaths, the A.P. reported. Just a few days ago, meteorologists were calling the cyclone one of the most dangerous storms in decades.

Cyclone makes landfall, slamming into India’s coast during a pandemic.

Cyclone Amphan slammed into India’s coast on Wednesday afternoon, knocking down huge trees, bringing ropes of rain and sending millions of poor villagers rushing into evacuation shelters.

The emergency response was complicated by the coronavirus.

India and Bangladesh are still under lockdown, and many people living along India and Bangladesh’s swampy coast were fearful of packing into crowded shelters where the chances of infection could be much higher.

“First Covid-19, now cyclone,” said a headline on the Indian broadcaster NDTV on Wednesday evening.

The storm, fueled by the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal, made landfall around 4 p.m. near the Indian town of Digha, on the eastern coast, with wind speeds between 100 and 115 miles per hour.

Live Cyclone Amphan Map: Tracking the Storm’s Path

On Wednesday, the storm made landfall on India’s eastern coast with wind speeds between 100 and 115 miles per hour.

Indian television channels showed images of frothy waves cresting sea walls and trees snapping into pieces. The winds blew apart some buildings, and Indian news media reported that a child died after a mud wall collapsed on top of him.

An aid agency official in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, near where a million Rohingya refugees are marooned in muddy camps, posted videos of heavy rain streaming down between apartment buildings.

The storm passed over the ecologically fragile Sundarbans region, between the Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh’s Hatiya Islands. The region is home to many rare animals, including Bengal tigers.

It was also predicted to pound Kolkata, one of India’s biggest and most historic cities, the first major capital during British colonial times and full of old and delicate buildings. On Wednesday evening, reports on social media and television stations showed countless electrical wires and lamp posts short-circuiting in the streets of the city, and winds so strong that reporters struggled to remain on air.

India and neighboring Bangladesh are both struggling with rising coronavirus infections. Just this week, India reported it had crossed 100,000 infections.