The 1876 Bengal cyclone strikes the Meghna estuary coast
- When
- 1876
- Where
- SE Bay of Bengal; Backerganj coast
- Episodes
- 2
The Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 struck the Meghna estuary coast, killing approximately 200,000 people. Half perished from storm surge, while the remainder succumbed to subsequent famine. The storm developed in the Bay of Bengal before intensifying into a severe cyclonic storm.
Episodes
- Cyclone Development
The storm formed as a depression in the Bay of Bengal and intensified into a severe cyclonic storm with hurricane winds.
- Coastal Strike
The cyclone struck the Backerganj coast near the Meghna estuary, causing massive casualties from storm surge.
Background and detail
Background. The Meghna is one of the three rivers that form the Ganges Delta, the largest delta on earth, which fans out to the Bay of Bengal. It empties into the Bay of Bengal via four principal mouths. The cyclone developed over the southeastern Bay of Bengal, intensifying from a depression into a severe storm with hurricane winds before striking the coast.
Impact. The cyclone hit the coast of Backerganj, near the Meghna estuary in present-day Barisal, Bangladesh. Approximately 200,000 people died, making it one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in history. Half of the victims were drowned by the storm surge, while the rest died from the subsequent famine.
Sources
- 1876 Bengal cyclone Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-24
- Meghna River Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-04
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.