Cyclone Fani: Hundreds of thousands of people flee India coastline as category three cyclone approaches

A fisherman carries his tools as he leaves for a safer place after tying his boats along the shore ahead of Cyclone Fani.
REUTERS

More than 800,0000 people are fleeing India’s east coast on boats, buses and trains as a category three cyclone approaches.

Cyclone Fani is in the Bay of Bengal and is expected to have wind speeds gusting up to 125mph when it hits the south coast of Odisha on Friday.

The state-run weather office was also forecasting heavy rain.

About 800,000 people were being told to leave low-lying areas of 14 districts in Odisha to cyclone shelters, safer schools and college buildings, a government statement said.

Tropical Cyclone Fani intensifying in the Bay of Bengal.
AFP/Getty Images

"We are maximising efforts at all levels for evacuation for the time being," Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi told Reuters.

Tourists have also been advised to leave coastal towns in West Bengal and Odisha.

Sea conditions were also likely to be very rough off the coast of the southeastern states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and federally administered Puducherry, the weather office said.

The National Disaster Response Force and the Indian Coast Guard have been put on high alert as Cyclone Fani, is expected to hit the southern Puri district of Orissa on Friday.
EPA

India's cyclone season generally lasts from April to December, with severe storms often leading to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, widespread deaths and damage to crops and property in both India and Bangladesh.

Two decades ago, a super-cyclone battered the coast of Odisha for 30 hours, killing 10,000 people.

A mass evacuation of nearly a million people in 2013 likely saved thousands of lives.