At least 1.1 million people on India\u2019s eastern coast are fleeing to storm shelters inland, hours before a powerful cyclone is expected to hammer the low-lying region, ministers said on Thursday. Cyclone Dana is likely to hit the coasts of West Bengal and Odisha states \u2014 home to around 150m people \u2014 as a \u201csevere cyclonic storm\u201d late on Thursday, India\u2019s weather bureau said. It predicts winds will be gusting up to 120 kilometres an hour. Major airports will shut overnight, including key travel hub Kolkata, where heavy rain was already lashing the sprawling megacity. The eye of the storm is predicted to make landfall early on Friday, near the coal-exporting port of Dhamra, about 230km southwest of the megacity Kolkata. It is also expected to impact neighbouring low-lying Bangladesh, where the leader of the interim government Muhammad Yunus said that \u201cextensive preparations\u201d are being made. Crashing waves are expected to inundate swathes of coastal areas, with water predicted to surge up to two metres (6.5 feet) above usual tide levels. Odisha state health minister Mukesh Mahaling told AFP that \u201cnearly a million people from the coastal areas are being evacuated to cyclone centres\u201d. In neighbouring West Bengal state, government minister Bankim Chandra Hazra said: \u201cMore than 100,000 people have so far been shifted to safer places.\u201d \u2018Save lives\u2019 Businesses in Puri, a popular beach resort, have been ordered to close, and tourists told to leave. \u201cAll efforts are being made to face the cyclone and save lives,\u201d said Puri district magistrate Siddharth Swain. Kolkata airport director Pravat Ranjan Beuria said flights will be suspended overnight Thursday due to \u201cpredicted heavy winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall\u201d. The airport in the city of Bhubaneshwar will do the same, while scores of trains have been cancelled and ferries from Kolkata ordered to stay in port. Bangladesh disaster minister Faruk-i-Azam told AFP that authorities were on \u201chigh alert\u201d but evacuation orders had not been issued as it was predicted the worst of the storm would hit India. \u201cWe are closely monitoring the cyclone\u2019s progress,\u201d he said. Cyclones \u2014 the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific \u2014 are a regular and deadly menace in the northern Indian Ocean. 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 them to hold more water, boosting heavy rainfall. However, better forecasting and more effective evacuation planning have dramatically reduced death tolls. In May, Cyclone Remal killed at least 48 people in India, and at least 17 people in Bangladesh, according to government figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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