KOLKATA, Oct 25, 2024 (BSS/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 -- the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in
the northwestern Pacific -- 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.

The Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world, was hit by a "gale
force wind" that caused hundreds of trees to be uprooted, West Bengal
minister Bankim Chandra Hazra told AFP.

"The cyclone also damaged hundreds of homes, blowing off roofs in coastal
areas," he added.

Major airports have been shut since Thursday night in Kolkata, India's third-
biggest city and a key travel hub, which was lashed by heavy rains.

Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world
heats up due to climate change driven by burning fossil fuels.

Warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapour, which provides additional
energy for storms, strengthening winds.

A warming atmosphere also allows storms to hold more water, boosting heavy
rainfall.

But better forecasting and more effective evacuation planning have
dramatically reduced death tolls.

In May, Cyclone Remal killed at least 48 people in India, according to the
government figure.