At least 23 people were killed and millions were left without power after Cyclone Remal, the first tropical storm of the season, hit Bangladesh and neighboring eastern India on Sunday.
Remal, which measured winds of more than 70 miles per hour, left a trail of destruction, uprooting trees and damaged power lines across the region, officials said.
The storm killed 13 people in Bangladesh and damaged or destroyed more than 35,000 homes in coastal areas, affecting about 3.5 million people, officials said. More than 13 million people lost electricity there Monday evening, according to Energy Department officials. The South Asian country has 170 million inhabitants.
The storm also caused power outages and damaged homes in the Indian state of West Bengal. On Tuesday, officials said at least 10 people were killed and several more were missing after heavy rains from the cyclone's remnants caused a quarry to collapse in the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram, which borders Bangladesh.
The storm struck after weeks of intense heat in the region, with temperatures reaching about 104 Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Celsius. Remal made landfall near Bangladesh's southern port of Mongla and India's neighboring Sagar Islands around 9 p.m. on Sunday.
About a million people were evacuated from Bangladesh's coastal villages before the storm hit. Most of these villages have been flooded, leaving millions of people vulnerable, officials said.
“As Cyclone Remal impacts coastal areas of Bangladesh, more than 8.4 million people, including 3.2 million children, face major risks to health, nutrition, sanitation and safety,” said Sheldon Yett, a UNICEF representative in Bangladesh, in a statement.
Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, was hit by heavy rain and strong winds. The storm disrupted flights at Shah Amanat International Airport in southeastern Bangladesh and at Kolkata Airport in India.
The storm had weakened by Tuesday, but meteorologists in Bangladesh and India warned that heavy rain and strong winds could continue for several more days.
Bangladesh has been hit by several severe storms in recent years. Last May, Bangladesh and Myanmar were hit by a severe cyclone, Mocha, killing several people. The storm caused widespread damage in the vast Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, destroying more than 3,000 slums and learning centers made of bamboo slats and plastic tarpaulin.
The Philippines also experienced its first tropical storm of the season. Typhoon Ewiniar hit the island early Saturday morning. The Office of Civil Defense reported on Monday that seven casualties were caused by the storm. The storm had gusts of more than 40 miles per hour, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.
Suhasini Raj contributed to the reporting.