The storm sometimes known as the "Great Bhola Cyclone" caused between 300,000 and 500,000 deaths when the storm surge overwhelmed island and tidal flats along the Bay of Bengal.
The 1989 tornado had a track about a mile wide and destroyed two towns, injuring over 12,000 and leaving about 80,000 people homeless.
In 1994, a flash of lightning caused a fire that ignited three oil tanks, each holding about 5,000 tons of aircraft or diesel fuel. The railway line holding the tanks collapsed in a flood and floodwaters carried the blazing fuel into Dronka.
The report says that nearly 90% of sub-Saharan buildings are not lightning safe, often made of mud-brick with thatch or sheet metal roofs.
Reportedly there were hailstones the size of "goose eggs and oranges and cricket balls." The WMO report cites an eyewitness who said that roofs collapsed and doors and windows were smashed by the ice.
"Men caught in the open and without shelter were simply pounded to death by the hail. Fourteen bodies were found in the race-course. More than one marriage party were caught by the storm near the banks of the river, and were annihilated. The police report that 1,600 head of cattle, sheep, and goats were killed,” wrote John Eliot, the first director-general of the India Meteorological Department, according to the WMO report.
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