Latest India cyclone Yaas kills nine, thousands homeless

A fisherman collects a damaged fishing net after Cyclone Yaas hit India's eastern coast in the Bay of Bengal, at a beach in Digha, some 190 km from Kolkata

Thousands of people were homeless Thursday after a cyclone battered Covid-ravaged India and neighbouring Bangladesh, killing nine people including four children. Cyclones are a regular menace in the northern Indian Ocean but many scientists say they are becoming more frequent and severe as climate change warms sea temperatures. Barely a week after Cyclone Tauktae claimed at least 155 lives in western India, Cyclone Yaas forced the evacuation of more than 1.5 million people in the eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha. The storm hit on Wednesday with torrential rain and howling winds gusting up to 155 kilometres (96 miles) an hour, equivalent to a category two hurricane.