(Illustrated London News)
On the night of October 11, 1737, a severe tropical cyclone struck the port city of Calcutta (Kolkata) leaving an incredible trail of death and destruction. A storm surge was sent up the Ganges River, storm winds were felt 60 leagues (200 miles, 333 km) inland, and thousands of vessels were sunk. Initial reports from a British East India Company official put the death toll at 3000. Later report published in English newspapers claimed that an earthquake had also struck the city at the same time and the dead numbered 300,000. Recent scholarship has called into question the earthquake report and the exaggerated death toll in what was then a city of 20,000 people.
References
Bilham, Roger “The 1737 Calcutta earthquake and cyclone evaluated” Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (Oct. 1994) 84 (5): pp.1650-1657.