Cyclone Dana is expected to hammer the low-lying regions of West Bengal and Odisha, home to around 150 million people, as a “severe cyclonic storm” late on Thursday or Friday morning, India’s weather bureau said. At least 1.1 million people on India’s eastern coast were fleeing to storm shelters inland, just hours before the storm’s arrival.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that the administration identified over 3.5 lakh people to be evacuated from low-lying areas of the state in the wake of the approaching cyclone Dana.

The cyclonic storm is expected to make landfall in Odisha and south Bengal tomorrow, bringing heavy rain and thunderstorms.

As the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a cyclonic storm on Wednesday, the India Meteorological Department predicted that it is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm on Thursday.