At least two killed as Cyclone Yaas bears down on India | Al Jazeera

A powerful cyclone has ripped through eastern India, killing at least two people and damaging dozens of homes as authorities tried to move more than a million people to safety from low-lying areas as it approaches the east coast.
Cyclone Yaas was powering across the Bay of Bengal and would batter the eastern states of Odisha and West Bengal, and also Bangladesh, on Wednesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.


“It is likely to cause large-scale damage,” IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told Reuters news agency by telephone.

It is expected to produce storm surges of up to 4 metres (13 feet), which are likely to inundate low-lying coastal areas.

A freak cyclone that some experts said was linked to the incoming storm snapped electricity lines, which electrocuted two people, and damaged about 45 houses in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, a government official said...