by AFP
October 12, 2013 , 3 : 09 pm
People walk among debris from a broken wall after it was damaged by a wave brought by Cyclone Phailin at a fishing harbour in Visakhapatnam district in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Photo - ReutersNew Delhi: India evacuated nearly half a million people as massive cyclone Phailin closed in on the impoverished east coast on Saturday, with winds already uprooting trees and tearing into the flimsy homes.
The storm packed gusts of up to 240 kilometres per hour (150 miles per hour) as it churned over the Bay of Bengal, making it potentially the most powerful cyclone to hit the area since 1999, when more than 8,000 died, the Indian weather office said.
"The very severe cyclonic storm Phailin is moving menacingly towards the coast," special relief commissioner for the state of Orissa, Pradipta Mohapatra said, as it arrived within 150 kilometres (90 miles) of landfall.
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