http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...as-super-Cyclone-Phailin-heads-for-India.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24507810
All week residents have watched news programmes describing how Phailin was gaining strength at sea.
Officials have been stockpiling food and setting up emergency shelters as waves began rising along the coast and the cyclone turned towards shore.
Satellite pictures showed the turbulent weather system spanning nearly 1,000 miles, almost filling the Bay of Bengal. US forecasters compared it in size to Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,200 people in 2005.
Its warm waters at the end of monsoon season have triggered some of the deadliest storms in history, including one in 1970 that killed as many as 500,000 people in Bangladesh.
The predicted path takes Phailin through more than 90 towns and 35,000 villages.
Plans for celebrations to mark a major religious festival were cancelled, as a high alert was issued.
Instead terrified locals moved inland, cramming into motorised rickshaws and overcrowded buses as they sought out higher ground.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24507810
All week residents have watched news programmes describing how Phailin was gaining strength at sea.
Officials have been stockpiling food and setting up emergency shelters as waves began rising along the coast and the cyclone turned towards shore.
Satellite pictures showed the turbulent weather system spanning nearly 1,000 miles, almost filling the Bay of Bengal. US forecasters compared it in size to Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,200 people in 2005.
Its warm waters at the end of monsoon season have triggered some of the deadliest storms in history, including one in 1970 that killed as many as 500,000 people in Bangladesh.
The predicted path takes Phailin through more than 90 towns and 35,000 villages.
Plans for celebrations to mark a major religious festival were cancelled, as a high alert was issued.
Instead terrified locals moved inland, cramming into motorised rickshaws and overcrowded buses as they sought out higher ground.
