NEW DELHI, India (AP) — Wide swaths of coastal India and Bangladesh were flooded and millions were without power Thursday as Cyclone Amphan, the most powerful storm to hit the region in more than a decade, killed over 80 people and cut a path of destruction that is still being assessed.

Officials in both countries said the full extent of the damage caused by the cyclone was not known because communications to many places were cut.

“I have never seen such a disaster before,” said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, adding that the Government would pay the equivalent of US$3,310 to families who lost a relative in the storm.

In an initial assessment in Bangladesh, Enamur Rahman, the country's junior minister for disaster management, said the cyclone caused about US$130 million in damage to infrastructure, housing, fisheries, livestock, water resources, and agriculture.

The region is no stranger to devastating cyclones, and the mangrove forests act as a barrier, absorbing the impact of the storms, said KJ Ramesh, the former chief of India's meteorological department.