People remove a tree which fell on a house in Bhubaneswar after Cyclone Phailin hit Odisha
The monster cyclone Phailin, packing heavy rains and destructive winds, hit very close to Gopalpur on the Odisha coast shortly after 9 on Saturday evening, as over eight lakh residents in the state and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh moved inland to shelters in the hope of riding out the dangerous storm.
(Latest developments)Officials said early reports of casualties, if any, from Phailin won't become clear until after day break on Sunday.
Roads were all but empty as high waves lashed the coastline of Odisha, which will bear the brunt of the cyclone. The Met office said the storm would continue to wreak havoc along a 150-kilometre stretch of coastline for the next six hours. "Very severe cyclone Phailin has just started crossing the coast near Gopalpur in Odisha," LS Rathore, the Director General of the Indian Meteorological Department told reporters.
(Full coverage)Mr Rathore said that Phailin would remain "a very serious cyclonic storm" for another six hours before losing its power.
(Cyclone Phailin not a super storm: Met Department)By mid Saturday afternoon, wind gusts were so strong that they could blow over grown men. Seawater pushed inland, swamping villages. The fate of many people who refused to leave their homes near the coast is not known yet.
As the cyclone swept across the Bay of Bengal towards the Indian coast, satellite images showed its spinning tails covering an area larger than France.
(A look at devastating cyclones from Bay of Bengal)In Berhampur, a town in Odisha about 10 kilometers inland from where the eye of the storm hit, the sky blackened quickly around the time of landfall, with heavy winds and rains pelting the empty streets. Window panes shook and shattered against the wind. Outside, objects could be heard smashing into walls.
(Read: Glass, wood, asbestos sheets flew as cyclone struck)Sources in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's office say over seven lakh people had been evacuated from the coastal areas today before the powerful storm struck.
(Read) Andhra Pradesh, meanwhile, has moved about a lakh to safety.
The government estimates that some 1.2 crore people will be affected by the storm, including lakhs living far from the coast.