Thousands of people were evacuated along India's south-eastern coast Wednesday as a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal moved toward landfall, officials said Wednesday.
The cyclone was forecast to hit the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, the weather office said, and authorities sounded a high alert for coastal residents as well as fishermen.
"State officials in southern coastal areas have been told to take all precautionary steps, including positioning of men and material to meet emergencies," Andhra Pradesh's disaster management spokesman D.C. Rosaiah said in the state capital Hyderabad.
The cyclone, with winds of 90 kilometres-an-hour (56-miles an-hour) was located 450 kilometres (297 miles) off the southern Indian coast was expected to intensify late Wednesday.
It was forecast to make landfall at Tamil Nadu's seaside district of Machilipatnam, which was ravaged by last year's tsunami. Cyclones are frequent in October and November in the Bay of Bengal.