'There's nothing to stop it at this point': India braces itself for Cyclone Phailin

Researchers warn that the cyclone is nearly the size of Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,200 people in 2005

Strong winds and heavy rain are pounding India's eastern coastline as 420,000 people take shelter from cyclone Phailin, which is expected to reach land this evening.

The skies are almost black in parts of Orissa state, the area that will bear the brunt of the cyclone, and winds are strong enough to blow over grown men. Along the coast, seawater has swamped villages where many subsistence farmers live in mud and thatched huts. The state's top disaster management official Surya Narayan Patro said no one will be allowed to stay in the huts.

Meteorologists had hoped the cyclone might hit while in a temporary weakened state, but satellite images show Phailin almost filling the Bay of Bengal, an area bigger than France.

“A storm this large can't peter out that fast, there's nothing to stop it at this point,” said Ryan Maue, a meteorologist at private US weather firm Weather Bell.

He added that at best there would be a storm surge of 7-9 metres (20-30 feet). These giant walls of water are usually the biggest killers when a cyclones hits the shore.

However, Indian officials predicted the storm surge would be at least 3 meters (10 feet) high, but warned that Phailin was a "very severe cyclonic storm," and that it would reach Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states with a maximum sustained wind of 210-220 kilometers per hour (130-135 miles).

A few hours ago about 200 villagers were jammed into a two-room schoolhouse in the village of Subalaya, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the coast, where local emergency officials were distributing food and water. Roads are almost completely empty of traffic, but two trucks pulled up to the school with more evacuees.

"My son had to stay back with his wife because of the cattle and belongings," said 70-year-old Kaushalya Jena, weeping in fear inside the makeshift shelter. "I don't know if they are safe."

Officials have been stockpiling emergency food supplies, while the Indian air force have four transport planes and 18 helicopters ready for relief operations.

The storm is expected to cause large-scale power and communications outages, shut down road and rail links, and cause extensive damage to crops, officials said.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik appealed for people to leave their homes and not to panic.

In Paradip, the Orissa port city hammered in a 1999 cyclone, at least seven ships have been moved out to sea to ride out the storm.

University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said Phailin is nearly the size of Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,200 people in 2005 and caused devastating flooding in New Orleans.