Mass evacuations spared India the widespread deaths many had feared from a powerful cyclone that roared ashore over the weekend, officials said.
Cyclone Phailin, the strongest storm to hit India in more than a decade, left 17 people dead, although the toll is expected to rise.
Meanwhile, Typhoon Nari has blown out of the Philippines, leaving 13 people dead, but officials remain on alert after another storm – named Wipha – was spotted in the Pacific.
Nari flooded farmlands and destroyed thousands of houses in provinces north of Manila before blowing away yesterday in the South China Sea.
In India, people are beginning to sort through the wreckage of flooded towns, tangled power lines and tens of thousands of destroyed thatch homes.
The cyclone destroyed hundreds of millions of pounds worth of crops after it made landfall in Orissa state on the country’s east coast.
The death toll is expected to climb as officials reach areas of the cyclone-battered coast that remain isolated by downed communication links and blocked roads, but the evacuation of nearly 1million people appeared to have saved many lives. “Damage to property is extensive,” said Amitabh Thakur, the top police officer in the Orissa district worst-hit by the cyclone, “but few lives have been lost.”
A cargo ship carrying iron ore, the MV Bingo, sank on Saturday as the cyclone barrelled through the Bay of Bengal, and her crew of 18 – including 17 Chinese and one Indonesian – went missing for a day, coast guard officials said.
They were being rescued after their lifeboat was found 115 miles off the Indian coast, coast guard chief Sharad Matri said.