Over 1 mn being evacuated as Cyclone Fani intensifies ahead of landfall

India has accelerated efforts to evacuate more than a million people along its northeast coastline as a cyclone intensifies ahead of landfall on Friday, with thousands of villagers piling household possessions on to trucks before fleeing their homes.

Severe cyclonic storm Fani was churning up the Bay of Bengal about 275 km (171 miles) south-southwest of the Hindu temple town of Puri where special trains were put on to evacuate tourists and the beaches were empty.

In total, about 1.2 million people are expected to be evacuated from low-lying areas of 15 districts in the eastern state of Odisha to cyclone shelters,