Burma Cyclone Death Toll Soars past 22,000.

The death toll in the aftermath of cyclone Nargis has continued to sky rocket as horrific reports are starting to trickle in from isolated communities in the Irrawaddy Delta and regions surrounding the city of Yangon. According to the BBC, Burma’s state media has declared that over 22,000 people have died and over 40,000 are still missing.

Nargis made landfall over the mouth of the Irrawwady River on Sunday with winds over 120 mph and a 12 feet storm surge. The majority of deaths are likely attributed to coastal flooding as the storm hit. Cyclone Nargis’ track, parallel to the shore, helped spread the storm surge and flooding waves over a greater length of coastline.

Dramatic satellite pictures show hundreds of kilometres of coastline underwater from the Irrawaddy Delta to the city of the Moulmein. Questions are being raised as to whether adequate warnings were given to coastal residents and it is reported that the official website of the Burmese meteorological department was offline prior to cyclone Nargis’ landfall.

The Bay of Bengal spawns the world’s deadliest tropical cyclone due to a combination of high population density, poor infrastructure and the dangers of colossal storm surges. Cyclone Nargis is now the world’s deadliest tropical cyclone since 1991 when massive cyclone killed 138,000 people in Bangladesh.

The death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers manage to access areas previously cut off by the storm and more reports subsequently come to light.

Please check back for more updates….

For more information please visit the following websites:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7385662.stm

http://www.alertnet.org/

www.typhoonfury.com