The cyclone hit coastal areas of India and southern Bangladesh, killing at least 16 people.
The area was hit by strong winds with speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour, heavy rains and tidal waves, causing low-lying areas to be flooded.
Nearly a million people were evacuated as Cyclone Remar made landfall on Sunday night.
According to local authorities, approximately 8.4 million people live near the hurricane’s path, including 3.6 million children.
The storm passed through the Mongla port in Bangladesh and the Sagar Islands in the Indian state of West Bengal on Sunday, before weakening the next day.
Bangladesh Disaster Minister Mohibur Rahman told AFP that at least 10 people had died in the cyclone. Some died from drowning, while others were trapped beneath collapsed buildings.
“A total of 3.75 million people were affected… 35,483 houses were destroyed by the cyclone and a further 115,992 houses were damaged,” Mr Rahman said.
In neighboring India, senior West Bengal government official Sumit Gupta confirmed that at least six civilians had died, three of whom were electrocuted.
The hurricane destroyed thousands of homes, uprooted trees and damaged power lines. Strong winds blew away the roofs of some tin and thatch huts, and flattened mud huts.
Ministry officials said that before the arrival of cyclone Remar, nearly 3 million people in Bangladesh had their power cut off to avoid accidents. Reuters quoted authorities in West Bengal state as saying at least 1,200 power poles had been uprooted.
“We have been out of power since night and my phone’s battery will run out at any moment,” Rahat Raja, from Satkhira in Bangladesh’s coastal district, told Reuters.
A villager in Bagerhat in the south of the country told the BBC that the cyclone had caused food shortages.
“There are no vehicles on the road. There is also a shortage of food. All shops have been closed since yesterday,” Muhammad Ali said.
Affected areas of the country include Cox’s Bazar in the southeast, where camps hosting nearly a million Rohingya refugees face the threat of landslides and flooding due to fragile temporary shelters.
The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) in Asia and the Pacific said it had issued warnings to people in refugee camps and had trained volunteers on standby to relocate people living in “high-risk areas”.
Save the Children said it has deployed four emergency response teams, including a medical team, to affected areas of the country to support recovery efforts.
The charity’s country director Shumun Sengupta said the cyclone “has once again shown how vulnerable Bangladesh is to extreme weather events”.
Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects of climate change, suffering extreme conditions such as heat waves and floods.
Cyclone Remar has been moving through the Bay of Bengal for the past few days and authorities in both countries are gearing up for its arrival.
In Kolkata, the capital of India’s West Bengal state, more than 50 flights were canceled on Sunday. Flights have since resumed.
In May 2023, the Bay of Bengal was hit by a hurricane. The most powerful cyclone in the region It has affected thousands of people in Bangladesh and Myanmar for more than a decade.
