Thousands more people in Australia's flood-hit east were told to leave their homes on Saturday as gale-force winds lashed the coast and emergency services said up to 20,000 people had been cut off.

One man has died and dozens have been rescued from rising waters after days of rain and cyclonic winds left thousands of hectares of northern New South Wales state under water.

Bangladesh said on Saturday a tropical storm was brewing in the Bay of Bengal and advised ports to hoist warning signals and asked all fishing boats and trawlers not to venture into deep seas.

The meteorological department said the storm packing winds up to 50 km (31 miles) per hour was 815 km (510 miles) southwest of the country's main Chittagong port at 0900 GMT on Saturday.

May 24: The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a cyclone warning with gales off the West Bengal coast reaching speeds between 65 and 75 kmph. They added that winds will attain speeds between 45 and 55 kmph in north Orissa coasts.

The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a cyclone warning with gales off the West Bengal coast reaching speeds between 65 and 75 kmph. They added that winds will attain speeds between 45 and 55 kmph in north Orissa coasts.

NEW DELHI: Climate changes are happening much faster and outstripping all efforts to predict them, suggests a new report on weather patterns.

One year after Cyclone Nargis devastated a swathe of Myanmar, and with the monsoon rains setting in once more, survivors need increased international aid to prevent more deaths, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Cyclone Nargis swept across Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta and southern Yangon on May 2, 2008, killing nearly 140,000 people and displacing 2.4 million.

ON the anniversary of the Burmese cyclone, more than a hundred thousand survivors are still living in makeshift shelters hopelessly inadequate to the monsoon rains that will soon engulf the country. But despite the population

One year on, cyclone Nargis is still taking a toll on its Burmese victims

IF A few small gold earrings escaped the cyclone the villagers pawn them, otherwise they pawn their clothes. They complain that moneylenders advance only a fraction of the item

'It was about 8.30pm. The devastating Sidr was approaching the coatal land from the Bay of Bengal. Our courtyard was submerged by water brought by tidal surge. I, along with my pregnant wife Hanufa Begum, 21, and daughter Nargis, 5, started moving to a local cyclone centre for taking shelter.

The government is taking initiatives to set up more cyclone shelters which will be used as multipurpose centres in coastal areas.

This was stated by Chairman of parliamentary standing committee on food and disaster management ministry Saidul Haq at a seminar in the city yesterday.