The inhabitants of the Philippine Islands, Indochina and Japan have known the word "typhoon" since time immemorial. Although translated from Chinese it simply means "strong wind", in real life it is associated with very great misfortunes for many hundreds of thousands of people. Typhoons of the Bay of Bengal are responsible for many casualties. They contribute to storm surges that flood low-lying, densely populated coastlines. For example, in October 1881, the typhoon overtook the east coast of Vietnam and the then capital of the country - the city of Haiphong. It is considered the most destructive: according to some assumptions, the typhoon then claimed at least 700,000 lives. In 1937, the territory of the present state of Bangladesh suffered from a typhoon. One hundred thousand people were washed away by the storm tide, another two hundred thousand died from epidemics and hunger.
In the spring of 1959, five cyclones of great force hit the island of Madagascar. After them, it was difficult to recognize the flourishing surroundings of Tananarive, the capital of Madagascar. Only surviving trees and half-flooded houses stuck out lonely above the water.
The wind during this natural disaster at times reached a speed of 200 kilometers per hour, breaking trees and destroying light residential buildings. The waves were so strong that it seemed as if the whole sea had overturned on the island. The rivers overflowed their banks and merged into an endless water surface.
Of the six provinces of Madagascar, five were affected by flooding. Several thousand people died, tens of thousands were left without shelter, clothing and generally without any means of subsistence. The plight of the islanders was aggravated by the fact that all communications on the island were interrupted. Only by boats and from the air was it possible to provide assistance to the victims.
Over time, the water subsided, but it took many years to rebuild in Madagascar hundreds of destroyed cities and villages, thousands of hectares of once flowering and fruitful plantations.
In June 1959, rainstorms hit Hong Kong that lasted four days continuously. During this time, 74 centimeters of precipitation fell. Many large buildings and thousands of poor huts were damaged or completely destroyed. More than forty people died, many were missing, tens of thousands were left homeless. The damage done to Hong Kong was estimated at millions of dollars. After the natural disaster of 1889, this flood is considered the largest.
One of the officers of the French frigate Juno, captured by a typhoon in the South China Sea in 1868, recalled: “Suddenly there was an absolute silence, which can only be compared with the silence after a mine explosion or the silence of a bastion just taken by attack. This calm, sudden and strange … evokes more amazement than a sense of danger, so it seems unnatural. But soon birds, fish and locusts began to fall from all directions. The electrical state of the atmosphere caused a dizziness that none of us had ever experienced. It was expressed in the extraordinary animation of some sailors, usually very restrained."
Fishing villages in the south of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu are scattered along the coast. And the coast itself stretches out as a white strip of the purest sand along the Bay of Bengal. These villages live in these villages smoky in the sun fishermen - bare-footed, in torn shirts bleached by sea water … The Indian government, of course, is developing commercial fishing in the ocean, it strongly supports the scientific research of the Central Institute of Marine Fisheries, involving foreign scientists.
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But the generous ocean gives part of its gifts to the simple toilers of the sea. Only such prey is sometimes dear to them and their families. The inhabitants of a fishing village, nestled on the outskirts of Madras, are well aware of this.
… The men came ashore in the faded light of the beginning day, when the colorless sky merged with the dim, without any wrinkles, sea. Silent in the morning, they overturned humpbacked boats, similar to dolphins, and dragged them along the cold sand to the water, drawing and leaving deep strips behind them. Having driven the boats to the depths, the fishermen slowly threw out the net, leaving bamboo trunks afloat so that the net would not go deep. Having described a semicircle, they regularly hit the water with long oars, and brought the boats back. The ends of the net were tied to stakes driven into the sand to make it easier to pull the prey.
Village streets at this time are empty, even lean dogs will not run out to meet you. Behind the village, on a white sheet of sand, women, old people, children sat and stood and peered into the bright shine of the endless sea.
An agonizing wait began. Old men dozed, leaning against the tarred sides of boats, or darned old nets, silently squatting. But each figured out to himself what the catch would be and how much could be sold to dealers.
So the fishermen were expected yesterday, and a week, and a month ago. So it was on November 19, 1964, when a cold downpour poured into Madras and sharp gusts of wind began to bend people and trees to the ground.
Where there was a wide strip of sand between the embankment and the water's edge, the river suddenly boiled and bubbled. Huge shafts rolled over the ocean one after another. It seemed that the ocean was breaking into the city. Where there was a fishermen's village (about thirty light huts covered with palm leaves), waves were now raging. Several dozen wet and chilled people now crowded lonely on the embankment. A pitiful heap of household belongings lay on the sidewalk. And in the hissing whirlpool were palm leaves, boards, an aluminum saucepan, some rags and a plaintive meowing kitten. This was all that was left of the village. The gray-haired, hunched-over old man on rheumatically slender legs, staring fixedly at the darkness, kept repeating: “That's it, the ocean has taken everything. And at home, and nets, and catamarans ….
Madras radio call: "Take shelter in the houses before dark!" - did not belong to them. There were no more houses.
In the tropics, hurricane showers are usually born in the Andaman Sea. Gradually gaining strength, they move over the ocean to the coast and, unfolding along it, can invade the interior of the continent, crushing everything in their path …
This cyclone was named "Cirala", because, having gained speed of 160 kilometers per hour, it proceeded inland through the city of Cirala. First, the wind with a downpour hit the shore. And then, like a mountain of water, a tidal wave eight miles wide and fifteen feet high crashed to the ground. A feature of the Bay of Bengal is a slight slope off the coast, and the wave, hitting houses and trees, turned everything upside down and demolished.
In the center of the cyclone itself, terrible tropical showers raged. An Indian ship caught in the hurricane field could not transmit anything - all the antennas were blown off by the wind. Communication was established only when the ship had already left for Sri Lanka …
In November 1970, a typhoon of unprecedented strength hit the coastal regions of eastern Pakistan. Raised by the wind, a huge wave eight meters high passed over a chain of densely populated islands, sweeping away everything in its path. She hit the coast and, along with the hurricane wind, caused catastrophic destruction. For several hours these islands and part of the mainland were under water. When the water subsided, it turned out that it tore down bridges, destroyed highways and railways. Entire settlements were completely destroyed - along with the inhabitants. The death toll has exceeded 500,000, and according to some reports there were more than a million. The newspapers then reported that more than ten million people were affected by the typhoon. It was one of the worst natural disasters in human history. The tragedy of what happened was also thatthat the approaching disaster was known in advance from observations from satellites. Pakistani authorities were alerted but did not take any security measures.
HUNDRED GREAT DISASTERS. N. A. Ionina, M. N. Kubeev