Barguna, Bangladesh ? Azahar Ali huddled with his family, reading from the Quran, as the cyclone roared in. First the power went out, then screaming winds blew out the windows and ripped off the roof. The sea rushed in, washing him and his family away.

The 80-year-old awoke in a rice paddy to find his son, daughter-in-law, three grandchildren and three other relatives dead, among the more than 3,100 people killed by Cyclone Sidr.

“I have lost everything,” he said Monday while recounting the terror of the worst cyclone in more than a decade to hit this low-lying South Asian nation of 150 million people.

Details of the devastation and the stories of the survivors began to emerge as rescuers reached areas cut off four days earlier when the storm washed out roads and downed telephone lines.

At least 3,113 people were known dead and more than 1,000 were missing, said Lt. Col. Main Ullah Chowdhury, an army spokesman. The Red Crescent Society warned the death toll could rise to 10,000 once rescuers reach outlying islands.

Mike Kiernan, spokesman for the charity Save the Children, said hundreds of thousands of people managed to escape physical harm, but many lost their homes and crops.

“Just the fact that people were able to survive this does not mean they will survive the second wave of death that comes from catastrophes like this: from lack of clean water, food, basic medicines and shelter,” Kiernan said.

In the village of Parulkhel, residents and rescuers used bamboo poles to probe flooded fields, looking for submerged bodies. “Some (corpses) were identified and taken away by relatives. We buried dozens of others near where we found them,” said Ali Akbar, a volunteer.

Survivors said many of the deaths could have been prevented but people failed to heed warnings to move to higher ground as the storm approached Thursday.

“‘Nothing is going to happen’ – that was our first thought, and we went to bed,” said Dhalan Mridha, a 45-year-old farm worker from the village of Galachipa.

“Just before midnight the winds came like hundreds of demons. Our small hut was swept away like a piece of paper, and we all ran for shelter,” he said.