Mass evacuations as monster cyclone targets eastern India

Nearly 800,000 people in eastern India have been evacuated from the expected path of a major cyclone packing winds up to 200 km/h and torrential rains, officials said on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Indian weather service said Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani was expected to make landfall on Friday afternoon in Odisha state and barrel northeastward on a pathway close to the homes of more than 100 million people.

A state relief department official said that 780,000 people were moved to safer places overnight from at least 13 districts of Odisha, home to around 46 million people, which will bear the brunt of the weather system.