A violent cyclone hit the east coast of India.
Storm "Yaas" came ashore on Wednesday morning (local time) with wind speeds between 130 and 140 kilometers per hour, as the Indian meteorological service announced.
The cyclone brought a lot of rain and waves up to four meters high.
Thousands of villages were flooded and hundreds of trees were uprooted, officials of the two affected states reported to the German Press Agency. In the state of West Bengal, ten million people were affected and three died, said the head of government Mamata Banerjee.
The size of the damage could only be determined later, according to the head of disaster control in the other affected state, Odisha.
At least one person died there.
Airports in the region have been closed and at least 40 long-distance trains have failed.
Almost two million people had previously been taken to emergency shelters, according to authorities.
In the state of Orisha, however, a number of accommodations are currently being used as corona treatment centers - so keeping your distance is more difficult in the remaining ones.
According to the meteorological service, the storm weakened somewhat on Wednesday evening.
Another severe cyclone recently hit the west coast of India.
More than 150 people died - many on a sinking oil company ship.
The region now affected has a lot of experience with strong cyclones, which occur again and again in the Bay of Bengal between April and November.
Almost 10,000 people died in a major cyclone in 1999 and 15 million lost their homes.
Experts assume that the intensity of tropical storms and storm surges has increased in recent years due to climate change.
Even so, the number of victims was lower than in earlier times, as the weather forecast is now better, India has built emergency shelters and designed evacuation plans and warning systems.
The property damage remains large.