© Twitter/NOAA Satellites
Cyclone Fani, seen on April 30, 2019.
One million people evacuated as 170km/h winds make landfall in eastern Odisha state
Cyclone Fari barrelled into Bangladesh on Saturday after leaving a trail of deadly destruction in India, passing through hundreds of densely populated, low-lying communities along the Bay of Bengal, one of the most vulnerable regions to flooding in the world.
Major roads in the capital of eastern India's Odisha state were scattered with trees and power lines, and the roof was torn off the city's main railway station, after on Friday it was hit by the most severe storm on the Indian subcontinent in two decades.
Almost all thatched-roof and mud houses across four districts in the state were destroyed by the cyclone, which made landfall at about 8am on Friday morning and began migrating north-west towards the city of Kolkata.
More than 1 million people, including at least 1,000 pregnant women, were moved from their homes into shelters.
Eight people reportedly died in India and Bangladeshi police said nine perished even before the eye of the storm rumbled over the border.
Rescue officials told the Guardian the dead included a teenager in Puri who was hit by a falling tree and a woman in an adjoining district who was struck by a collapsing wall.
"We have taken full precautions and my government is fully prepared to deal with the situation," Odisha's chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, told the Guardian. "I have learned of the casualties and am instructing officers to find out the reasons behind them."
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