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What were the deadliest tropical storms in the world?

The deadliest (most dangerous) tropical storms are cyclones. A cyclone is a storm that rotates counterclockwise around a center of low pressure in the atmosphere and moves at 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 kilometers) per hour. The storm produces heavy rain and winds that top 75 miles (121 kilometers) per hour. When cyclones have swept out of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean and hit densely populated India, thousands of lives have been lost. In 1970 a cyclone struck Bangladesh and India, killing more than 1,000,000 people. Tragedy struck Bangladesh again in 1985 and 1991. In 1985, between 15,000 and 100,000 lost their lives as a result of a cyclone. In May 1991, a storm with 145 mile-(233-kilometer) per-hour winds and 20-foot (6.1-meter) waves swept over the densely populated low-lying coastal plains, trapping and killing 138,000 people.

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