"Five people died in the cyclone and the government has deployed the army, navy, coastguard and the police to assess the situation," the food and disaster minister, Abdur Razzak, told reporters.

Mr Razzak said Cyclone Aila landed between Bangladesh's Khulna district and Sagar Island in India's state of West Bengal, unleashing winds of up to 90km per hour and a surge of water as high as 4m, submerging many villages.

Before the storm struck, 400,000 Bangladeshi people had been moved from five districts to cyclone shelters and schools.

In India, 10 people were reportedly killed by the cyclone, which hit the crowded state capital of Kolkata, bringing down trees, electricity towers and smashing cars. Government minister Kanti Ganguly said that around 100 villages along India's eastern coast were under water, and around 100,000 people had been evacuated from the Sundarbans mangrove forest.