India evacuates 2 million as storm slams coast amid coronavirus woes

Bloomberg

India has evacuated almost 2 million people from the east coast to safer places as a powerful cyclone hit the nation at a time when authorities are also battling the world’s worst outbreak of Covid-19.
The eastern state of West Bengal has shifted about 1.1 million people to various relief centres, while neighbouring Odisha has so far moved more than 500,000. Local authorities are asking people to maintain social distancing at cyclone shelters to check the spread of the coronavirus.
The storm, the second one to batter India in 10 days, poses several challenges for already stressed authorities in the country, which is battling a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The infections have strained India’s health system and overwhelmed crematoriums and hospitals. They have also spread to rural areas, where about 70% of the nation’s 1.3 billion people live.
The India Meteorological Department said the landfall process of cyclone Yaas has started in Odisha and wind speeds may rise 155 kilometres per hour. Sea levels may increase three metres above regular tides and inundate low-lying areas, it said in a statement.
The latest storm follows a severe cyclone that hit the west coast last week — the worst in over two decades in the western state of Gujarat — killing dozens after a barge sank in the sea. The eastern region was hit by a cyclone, equivalent to a category 3 hurricane, in May 2020, while another one in 2019 prompted authorities to evacuate millions of people. Federal Home Minister Amit Shah asked the state governments to ensure adequate power backup for hospitals, laboratories, vaccine cold stores and other facilities, the ministry said.