ROMANS: Thousands of people now homeless as a devastating cyclone slams South Asia. The India disaster agency says one part of West Bengal was, quote, pulverized. Now, the cyclone also bringing huge loss and damage to nearly every coastal district of Bangladesh. Waves reached as high as 15 feet. CNN's Sam Kiley is live in Abu Dhabi. This is just a monster storm.</s>SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it could have been a whole lot worse. When it made landfall it was called a level 2 hurricane. But out in the Bay of Bengal, it got to level 5. It is that energy that is coming out from deep in the sea that is producing these very high, very damaging levels of waters. You say there are at least 15 feet high, that for low lying Bangladesh is particular, Christine, is absolutely disastrous, not just because more than 2.5 million people have had to have been evacuated, but because crops get destroyed. The rice crop is being harvested at the moment. Six hundred and fifty thousand people evacuated from their homes in neighboring India, or on the east coast. And, of course, in both countries, they're already struggling with how to get to grips or control the spread of the coronavirus in highly overpopulated areas where social distancing to begin with was very, very difficult. Now, the local authorities in Bangladesh is saying about 15 people killed there. Similar number, about 12 being reported outside -- out of India at the moment. So the death toll fairly low, but the real issues are going to be the short-term recovery. First of all, the effects on the evacuated people of having to be crowded inevitably as a result of the evacuation and therefore spreading the coronavirus and then, of course, the longer term humanitarian aspects still to be dealt with.</s>ROMANS: Always a tragic situation, but a cyclone and a pandemic obviously has its own level of pain and suffering. Sam Kiley for us. Thank you so much, Sam. EARLY START continues right now. END
Thousands Left Homeless After Cyclone Batters South Asia.