Second severe storm in 10 days to batter Covid-hit India

India braces for the second severe storm in about 10 days, with authorities in the eastern region preparing to evacuate people to safer places at a time when the country is battling the world’s worst outbreak of Covid-19.

Cyclone Yaas, equivalent of a category 3 hurricane, is set to reach the state of West Bengal and northern areas of Odisha on Wednesday, according to the India Meteorological Department. The "very severe” cyclone will bring heavy rains, with the wind speed surging as high as 180 kilometers (112 miles) per hour, the weather forecaster said. The latest storm follows a severe cyclone in the west coast last week -- the worst in more than two decades in western Gujarat state -- that killed dozens after a barge sank in the sea. The eastern region was also hit by a cyclone in May 2020 when the wind speed of a category 3 hurricane reached as high as 185 kilometers per hour. Another one in 2019 had prompted authorities in the area to evacuate millions of people.