Global storm activity of 2008 from of snow during a two-day period. The poor conditions forced the closure of Interstate 90 in the Black Hills region of western South Dakota. On May 8, dust storms hit Astana in Kazakhstan. 21 people had died in a rural Mongolian blizzard. Parts of the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia were also affected. The Burmese government said that over 60,000 people are dead or missing and about 1,000,000 are homeless. The American embassy to Burma in the area has estimated that about 100,000 died when Cyclone Nargis hit coastal Myanmar on May 8 and 9, 2008. Fifty-four people, including
Diamond Island (Myanmar) In recent years the loss of mangroves has reduced turtle nesting sites. Cyclone Nargis, 2–3 May 2008, also damaged turtle nests and nesting sites. In 1801 the British merchant ship "Mermaid" wrecked on a rock some miles from the island. On 7 November 1808 the East Indiaman did so also. A communications station, now closed, was established there. The station in 1908 was in radio contact with the Andaman Islands and had a telegraph connection to Bassein (now Pathein). During World War II, in January 1942 the river steamer evacuated the British radio operators on the island. On 6 March