Today's Edition
KOLKATA (AFP)
Cyclone Dana uprooted trees and power lines after making landfall on India's east coast, with officials warning of more fierce weather on Friday.
Cyclones are a regular and deadly menace in the northern Indian Ocean.
At least 1.1 million people in the states of Odisha and West Bengal were relocated to storm shelters before the eye of the cyclone reached the coast just after midnight.
District official Siddarth Swain told AFP that the storm had left a "trail of destruction" in the coastal town of Puri.
"Many trees and electric poles are uprooted," he added. "Makeshift shops on the sprawling beach have been blown away." No casualties have been reported so far.
Dana flooded parts of the coast after triggering a surge in sea levels of up to 1.15 metres (3.75 feet).
On landfall the storm had gusting winds up to 120 kilometres per hour, Kolkata-based weather bureau forecaster Somenath Dutta told AFP.
