Cyclone near India’s coast fuels exodus

NEW DELHI — Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated India’s eastern coast on Thursday as authorities braced for a cyclone moving through the Bay of Bengal that was forecast to bring extremely severe wind and rain.

The India Meteorological Department in New Delhi said Cyclone Fani was expected to make landfall on Friday with gale-force winds of up to 124 miles per hour likely starting Thursday night. It warned of “extremely heavy falls” over parts of the state of Odisha and its southern neighbor Andhra Pradesh.

India’s National Disaster Management Authority forecast “high to phenomenal” sea conditions for most of the Indian states along the Bay of Bengal. Fishermen were advised not to venture into deep waters. A 4.9-foot storm surge was expected to inundate low-lying areas.

Fearing that Fani could be the worst storm since 1999, when a cyclone killed around 10,000 people and devastated large parts of Odisha, Indian officials put the armed services on high alert, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Cabinet ministers and weather and disaster-response officials for a briefing.

The Meteorological Department projected “total destruction” of thatched-roof huts, flooding of farmland and orchards.

Odisha’s special relief commissioner, Bishnupada Sethi, said that preparations for Fani included the country’s largest evacuation operation, of around 880,000 people.

More than 800 shelters were opened and around 100,000 dry food packets were ready to be airdropped.

Tourists were provided trains to leave the popular beach town of Puri in Odisha on Thursday, according to Indian media reports.

Residents tied plastic tarps over their tin-roof shacks before abandoning them.