The strongest storm to hit India in 20 years made landfall Friday, killing two people and lashing the country’s eastern coast with ferocious winds and torrential downpours.
Fani made landfall as the strongest cyclone to hit the region since a 1999 storm killed at least 10,000 people. That incident prompted India to reassess its disaster management planning.
More than 1 million people were evacuated ahead of Fani, Odisha’s chief minister said in a tweet. About 10,000 villages and 52 towns in nine districts in the state were in the storm’s path, forecasters said. Eleven districts along the Odisha coast were placed on red alert, and some 900 cyclone shelters were set up to house evacuees.
