On Thursday Indian and Bangladeshi authorities warned thousands of people to evacuate as Tropical Cyclone Sidr was approaching the coast carrying cold drizzles, strong winds and high waves.

The cyclone was at about 260 miles at noon local time in the Bay of Bengal.

At about 11 p.m. today it is expected to landfall southeast of Kolkatta, formerly known as Calcutta, a city with a population of 14.3 million people.

Northeastern India and Bangladesh are usually hit by the cyclones that form in the Bay of Bengal, resulting in flooding and wreaking local communities.

Warnings have been issued for Kolkatta.

Atanu Purkayastha, relief commissioner of Indias West Bengal state government, said: “People have been told to move to government shelters and fishermen are being told not to venture into the seas.”

The coastal area of eastern India is known for the mangrove forests of Sundarbans, which is the home of the rare Royal Bengal tigers.

In Bangladesh the alarm was raised in sixteen districts, according to K.H. Massod, director general of disaster management in Bangladesh, Bloomerg reports.

People in the south and southeastern villages in Bangladesh were warned through microphones to take shelter in one of the cyclone shelters around the country.

Asraf Shameen, administrative chief of southeastern Chittagong district said: “We started evacuating people from vulnerable coastal areas and our volunteers are using microphones asking people to take shelter in cyclone shelters.”

Tropical cyclone Sidr that has been hovering over the Bay of Bengal was expected to hit the Khulna-Barisal coast late Thursday, the Associated Press reports.

Bangladesh suspended operations in two seaports: Chittagong and Mongla. Authorities stopped ferry services and flights in the coastal region.

Cox's Bazar appeared deserted, and dozens of tourists remained stranded in the offshore coral atoll of St. Martins because the rough seas forced for the cruise ships to stay ashore.

In 1970 half a million people died in Bangladesh due to a cyclone that hit the country, and in 1991 almost 138,000 people died because of a cyclonic tidal wave.