In The Vortex, Scott Carney and Jason Miklian explore the environmental and societal impacts the 1970 Great Bhola Cyclone had upon South Asia, specifically what was East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The tropical storm began brewing in the Bay of Bengal on November 8, 1970, gaining strength to eventually achieve winds of up to 140 mph when it smashed into the densely populated East Pakistan coastline November 12-13, 1970.

No stranger to cyclones, this area averaged around two per year between 1959-1969. But it had never experienced anything on the scale of the 1970 storm. Along with the ferocious winds, a maximum storm surge estimated at 35 feet high swamped low-lying coastal fishing villages, drowning hundreds of thousands of people and livestock in one night. While the exact death toll will never be known, estimates range from 300,000-500,000 fatalities. It is currently the deadliest storm on human record.

But the deaths did not stop with the storm itself, as the widespread ...