Cyclone Phailin, being described as possibly the biggest cyclone in the Bay of Benga ever to hit India, has triggered India's biggest evacuation programme in 23 years which caused substantial damage in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.
It was also the most intense cyclone that crossed Indian coast after the 1999 Odisha cyclone.
It is being compared to being as devastating as Hurricane Katrina The system was first noted as a tropical depression on October 4, 2013 within the Gulf of Thailand, to the west of Pnom Penh in Cambodia.
