Injuries reported as more than a million evacuated as Cyclone Fani hit India’s east coast

• Video report by ITV News correspondent Juliet Bremner

Around 160 people are believed to have been injured as Cyclone Fani batters India's east coast, officials have said.

Government spokesman Sitanshu Kar took to Twitter to confirm that he had been told that in Puri district, there had been extensive damage to houses, old buildings and temporary shops.

"No confirmed report of deaths, but 160 reportedly injured," he said.

"Power and telecom is completely down. NDRF [National Disaster Response Force] and state forces are clearing roads."

More than a million people were evacuated as Cyclone Fani made landfall on India’s eastern coast as a grade 5 storm, lashing the beaches with rain and winds gusting up to 127mph.

Videos from a boys hostel in Bhubaneswar showed doors and windows being blown out by the winds, as those inside run for cover.

One user posted a string of videos - including one which showed a crane at a construction site come crashing down onto nearby homes.

"This is gut wrenching. Hope everyone in those houses are safe," he said.

"My friends are still in [the] hostel. Trains were cancelled. Hostel is safe but not the windows and doors."

The India Meterological Department said the “extremely severe” cyclone in the Bay of Bengal hit the coastal state of Odisha at 8am local time (3.30am BST) on Friday.

India’s National Disaster Response Force said around 1.2 million people were evacuated from low-lying areas of Odisha and moved to nearly 4,000 shelters.

By Friday afternoon, Fani had weakened to a "very severe" storm as it moved north-northeast toward the Indian state of West Bengal.

And the country's meterological department said it expected the storm to continue to weaken over the coming hours and was "very likely" to reach Gangetic West Bengal as a severe cyclonic storm.

Meanwhile, Navy planes were sent out to examine the extent of the damage from the air, as pictures emerged showing houses in ruins, trees ripped down, and widespread flooding.

Mr Kar added that there had been "significant" damage reported at the airport in Bhubaneshwar, plus a tower collapse near Chandka with roads blocked.

Photographs and film footage from Puri district showed road signs torn down and blown away, while local farmers were forced to move their livestock by boat across the river Brahmaputra in Gauhati to safer locations.

And local media said at least 10 villages had been inundated with water in coastal Patuakhali district in southern Bangladesh, after flood embankments were breached by the force of the cyclone.

Fani was the fiercest storm to hit the area since 1999, when a cyclone killed around 10,000 people and devastated large parts of Odisha.

Fishermen were advised not to venture into deep waters and a 1.5 metre (4.9 foot) storm surge was expected to inundate low-lying areas.

The Meteorological Department had warned of the "total destruction" of thatched-roof huts, flooding of farmland and orchards, and the uprooting of telephone poles.

Odisha's special relief commissioner, Bishnupada Sethi, said that preparations for Fani included the country's largest evacuation operation.

More than 800 shelters were opened and around 100,000 dry food packets were ready to be airdropped.

Tourists were provided special trains to leave the popular beach town of Puri in Odisha on Thursday, according to Indian media reports.

The National Disaster Response Force dispatched 54 rescue and relief teams to flood-prone areas along the coast and as far afield as Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a group of islands located about 1,300 kilometres (840 miles) east of mainland India in the Bay of Bengal.

The teams included doctors, engineers and deep-sea divers equipped with boats, scuba sets and satellite phones, the group said in a statement.