Evacuations have been made more complicated due to social-distancing measures
Ferocious wind and rain is lashing parts of eastern India and Bangladesh as Cyclone Amphan makes landfall.
Millions of people were evacuated in anticipation of the storm, which originated in the Bay of Bengal.
The storm, the first super cyclone in the area since 1999, is forecast to cause deadly storm surges, severe flooding and mudslides.
The coronavirus and social-distancing measures have made mass evacuations more difficult for authorities.
India’s weather department said in an afternoon update that Amphan was making landfall in a process that would take several hours.
It has begun hitting the Sundarbans, a mangrove area around the India-Bangladesh border, and will later move north and north-eastwards near the major city of Kolkata in India’s West Bengal state, meteorological officials said.
Amphan is then expected to move further into Bangladesh on Thursday, and later Bhutan.
The storm was the first super cyclone in the Bay of Bengal since one in 1999 that killed thousands of people but its winds have since weakened, according to BBC Weather. Indian officials said the current wind speed in the Sundarbans was 160-170 km/h, with gusts of up to 190km/h – equal to a Category Three hurricane.
A Bangladesh Red Crescent volunteer helping villagers to evacuate became the first fatality after the boat he was in capsized in strong winds, the organisation said.
“At least 50 people took shelter in my concrete-built house,” Bangladeshi prawn farmer Abdur Rahim, who lives on on the edge of the Sundarbans, told the AFP news agency.
“There is panic. The women are worried… A few months ago Cyclone Bulbul smashed our village, destroying at least 100 homes. We hope Allah will save us this time.”
India and Bangladesh have asked for schools and other buildings to be turned into temporary shelters – but they need more space than usual in order to house people while maintaining social distancing.
