[plant] epidemic ... nothing as devastating ... has been recorded in plant pathological literature". The Bengal cyclone came through the Bay of Bengal, landing on the coastal areas of Midnapore and 24 Parganas. It killed 14,500 people and 190,000 cattle, whilst rice paddy stocks in the hands of cultivators, consumers, and dealers were destroyed. It also created local atmospheric conditions that contributed to an increased incidence of malaria. The three storm surges which followed the cyclone destroyed the seawalls of Midnapore and flooded large areas of Contai and Tamluk. Waves swept an area of , floods affected , and wind and torrential rain damaged . For nearly 2.5 million Bengalis, the accumulative damage of the cyclone and storm surges to homes, crops and livelihoods was catastrophic: The cyclone, floods, plant disease, and warm, humid weather reinforced each other and combined to have a substantial impact on the aman rice crop of 1942. Their impact was felt in other aspects as well, as in some districts the cyclone was responsible for an increased incidence of malaria, with deadly effect. October 1942: Unreliable crop forecasts At about the same time, official forecasts of crop yields predicted a significant shortfall. However, crop statistics of the time were scant and unreliable. Administrators and statisticians had known for decades that India's agricultural production statistics were completely inadequate and "not merely guesses, but frequently demonstrably absurd guesses". There was little or no internal bureaucracy for creating and maintaining such reports, and the low-ranking police officers or village officials charged with gathering local statistics were often poorly supplied with maps and other necessary information, poorly educated, and poorly motivated to be accurate. The Bengal Government thus did not act on these predictions, doubting their accuracy and observing that forecasts had predicted a shortfall several times in previous years, while no significant problems had occurred. Air raids on Calcutta The Famine Inquiry Commission's 1945 report singled out the first Japanese air raids on Calcutta in December 1942 as a causation. The attacks, largely unchallenged by Allied defences, continued throughout the week, triggering an exodus of thousands from the city. As evacuees travelled to the countryside, food-grain dealers closed their shops. To ensure that workers in the prioritised industries in Calcutta would be fed, the authorities seized rice stocks from wholesale dealers, breaking any trust the rice traders had in the government. "From that moment", the 1945 report stated,