By Shafiq Alam
MADARIPUR, Bangladesh — “I have never seen such a huge storm in my life,” Nazrul Islam said, surveying the wreckage after his house — and hundreds like it — were wiped out by the fury of the Bangladesh cyclone.
“My house has collapsed,” the village shopkeeper said. “It was a terrible night.”
At least 200 people were killed by Cyclone Sidr, which swept through southern Bangladesh on Thursday night, flattening lightweight homes made of bamboo and tin - and devastating village after village.
Farmer Badal Sheikh said people had to wait for first light to understand the full extent of the damage.
“Trees have fallen across every street and there is not a single house with a tin roof left,” he said. “The roofs were blown away and smashed by the wind. Now they are lying all over the place.”
Full Story: 80 percent of village’s homes leveled