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The Bhola Cyclone Kills at Least 300,000 in the Ganges Delta · Chronopin

WeatherPosted 09/21/202609/21/2026 at 8:58 pm·@ClimateDesk To timeline

The Bhola Cyclone Kills at Least 300,000 in the Ganges Delta

The Bhola Cyclone Kills at Least 300,000 in the Ganges Delta

Starts 11/12/1970

Bhola Island, Ganges Delta, Bangladesh

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Disaster
Bangladesh Liberation War
Bhola Cyclone
Deadliest Tropical Cyclone
Ganges Delta
Storm Surge

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The source^[1] dates the strike in its opening line — it "struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on 12 November 1970" — though its own track narrative says the cyclone peaked on 10 November and made landfall "on the following afternoon". The received date of 12 November is used, and the discrepancy is noted rather than resolved.

Start: Nov 12, 197090% CONFIDENCEfrom the source

The Bhola Cyclone Kills at Least 300,000 in the Ganges Delta

The deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded drove a storm surge over the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. At least 300,000 died, and the Pakistani government's response helped set off the Bangladesh Liberation War.

The 1970 Bhola cyclone is the deadliest tropical cyclone on record and one of the deadliest humanitarian disasters ever recorded. [S]
At least 300,000 and possibly 500,000 people died, chiefly from the storm surge that flooded the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. [S]
It formed over the central Bay of Bengal on 8 November and peaked with winds of 185 km/h on 10 November as the strongest storm of the 1970 North Indian Ocean season. [S]
In Tazumuddin, the worst-hit upazila, over 45% of a population of 167,000 was killed. [S]
General Yahya Khan's government was widely criticised for its delayed relief; the resulting disillusionment fed the Awami League's landslide a month later and the Bangladesh Liberation War seven months after that. [S]

0

References 190% CONFIDENCE

The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.

[1]90%
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Bhola_cyclone
en.wikipedia.org· Posted Sep 21, 2026· Starts Nov 12, 1970 ✓· 100% of score
The source dates the strike in its opening line — it "struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on 12 November 1970" — though its own track narrative says the cyclone peaked on 10 November and made landfall "on the following afternoon". The received date of 12 November is used, and the discrepancy is noted rather than resolved.

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1The Bhola Cyclone Kills at Least 300,000 in the Ganges Delta

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