Devastation caused by Phailin captured

Powerful cyclone Phailin, the worst since the disastrous super cyclone of 1999, pounded the Odisha coast last night, bringing in its wake torrential rains and wind speeds of over 200 kmph in the state and in neighbouring north coastal Andhra Pradesh.(AP Photo)

Terrified people were forced to remain indoors by heavy rains and vehicular traffic came to a grinding halt.(AP Photo)

More than half a million people were evacuated by authorities from vulnerable areas in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in one of the biggest such exercises.(AP Photo)

Scores of trees and electric poles were uprooted disrupting traffic movement in the town while at least three mobile towers were blown away under the impact of the high speed wind.(AP Photo)

Indian villagers look at their damaged houses after returning to the cyclone hit village of Podampeta on the Bay of Bengal coast in Ganjam district, Orissa state.(AP Photo)

Several people died in the rains that fell ahead of the storm, most killed by falling branches, Indian media reported, but the situation on the ground in many areas was still unclear after Cyclone Phailin slammed into the coast Saturday evening in Orissa state.(AP Photo)

Man salvages a table stuck in uprooted trees fallen during Cyclone Phailin on a road in Berhampur(AP Photo)

Indian villagers remove debris of a destroyed temple in cyclone affected Haripur village in Ganjam district, Orissa.(AP Photo)

Woman returns to the cyclone hit Arjipalli village on the Bay of Bengal coast in Ganjam district.(AP Photo)

People watch high tide waves as they stand at the Bay of Bengal coast in Vishakhapatnam.(AP Photo)