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the evening. Furious wind accompanied by continuous rain lashed the
place. Screams could be heard as trees got uprooted and destroyed the
houses as they fell on them. The water flowed with gush and swept
away houses that came in its way.There was neck deep water in his
friend’s house. As his house was a pucca house, it was able to resist the
strong winds which blew at a speed of 350 kilometres per hour. His
friend’s family was terrorised because in the middle of the night, trees
had fallen on the house, damaging the roof and walls of the building.

The crazed destruction wrought by the cyclone and the surge of the
ocean continued for the next thirty-six hours, although wind speeds had
reduced somewhat by the next morning. To escape the waters rising in
the house, Prashant and his friend’s family had taken refuge on the roof.
Prashant will never forget the shock he experienced at his first glimpse
of the devastation wrought by the super cyclone, in the grey light of the
early morning.

Surge: gush
Refuge: shelter
Wrought: produced as a result of something

The storm continued for the next one and a half day although the wind
had slowed down. To escape the rising levels of water, Prashant, along
with his friend and his family, took shelter on the roof of the house. As
the day dawned, Prashant saw the destruction caused by the super
cyclone.

A raging, deadly, brown sheet of water covered everything as far as the
eye could see; only fractured cement houses still stood in a few places.
Bloated animal carcasses and human corpses floated in every direction.
All round even huge old trees had fallen. Two coconut trees had fallen
on the roof of their house. This was a blessing in disguise, because the
tender coconuts from the trees kept the trapped family from starving in
the several days that followed.
Fractured: broken

Bloated: swollen
animal carcasses: dead bodies of animals
blessing in disguise: an apparent misfortune that eventually has good
results
Tender: soft, raw

As far as Prashant could see, he saw a cover of muddy brown water.
There were the remains of shattered houses surrounded by the water.
Dead bodies of animals and human beings floated in the water. Huge
trees had fallen and were floating around. Two coconut trees had fallen