See: How India, Bangladesh prepare for cyclone Amphan

A crushing cyclone barreled up the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday, heading for a swampy stretch along the border of India and Bangladesh and threatening to unleash 165 mph winds and massive floods when it makes landfall Wednesday.| Above: A Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) volunteer uses a megaphone to urge residents to evacuate to shelters ahead of the expected landfall of cyclone Amphan in Khulna on May 19, 2020.

As the cyclone, Amphan - categorized by Indian meteorologists as equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane - neared the coastal areas, hundreds of thousands of people in India and Bangladesh were bracing for the worst and had started moving toward emergency shelters. | Above: Residents being evacuted in Dhalchar village on Tuesday.

In the eastern Indian state of Odisha, authorities have fewer shelters to work with because many have been turned into COVID-19 quarantine centers. Indian officials are now struggling to evacuate people and prepare for floods and destruction while still under a partial lockdown to fight the coronavirus. Humanitarian officials are worried that by packing people into shelters, coronavirus infections could spread even further. | Residents being evacuated in Dhalchar village on the island of Bhola as the Cyclone Amphan barrels towards Bangladesh's coast.

Residents from Dhalchar village being evacuated in a fishing trawler on the island of Bhola as the Cyclone Amphan barrels towards Bangladesh's coast.

Indian officials said the storm was one of the most dangerous super cyclones to hit India in decades, since a cyclone in 1999 killed more than 9,000 people. That storm packed winds of more than 170 mph, devastating many states along India's coast. | Above:Fishermen bring their boats to the coast after the waring of Cyclone 'Amphan' developed in the Bay of Bengal,in Paradip on Tuesday.

Since then, authorities in India and Bangladesh have significantly improved their emergency response measures, drafting meticulous evacuation plans and building thousands of sturdy emergency shelters, some of which can accommodate several thousand people each. | Above: Fishermen pull their boat back to shore amidst rough sea, ahead of the landfall of Cyclone Amphan, at Puri beach, Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

Last year, Indian authorities whisked more than 1 million people out of the path of a huge storm, deploying millions of text messages, tens of thousands of volunteers, nearly 1,000 emergency workers and television commercials, coastal sirens, buses, police officers and public address systems. | Above: Rescue teams of Odisha Fire and Disaster Response Academy prepare themselves ahead of cyclone Amphan, in Bhubaneswar, Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

The storm surge from Amphan is likely to inundate low-lying areas. The storm is likely to cause extensive damage to crops, houses, power lines and vegetation, Indian officials said. | Above: Clouds hover the sky as India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a warning to suspend all fishing activity in Bengal and Odisha till May 20, in the wake of super cyclone Amphan, in Kolkata on Tuesday.

IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra with NDRF Chief SN Pradhan, Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash and others brief the media over cyclone 'Amphan', at NMC in New Delhi. | According to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), cyclone Amphan will cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts between Digha (WB) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans during the afternoon to evening hours of May 20. "Cyclone Amphan over the Bay of Bengal near latitude 18.4°N & longitude 87.1& about 210 km nearly south of Paradip (Odisha). To cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts between Digha (WB)& Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans during the afternoon to evening hours of 20th May," tweeted IMD.

Cloud hover over Howrah bridge ahead of cyclonic storm Amphan, in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Fishermen anchor their boats along the banks of river Hooghly, ahead of the landfall of Cyclone Amphan, at Santipur, Nadia, Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

Rain clouds loom over a Kolkata on May 19, 2020, as Cyclone Amphane barrels towards India's eastern coast.

Turbulent waves crash into the coast Kasimedu Fishing Harbour, ahead of landfall by Cyclone Amphan, in Chennai, Tuesday, May 19, 20202.

A disaster management volunteer carries a sick child as villagers on the Bay of Bengal coast are evacuated as a precaution against Cyclone Amphan at Bakkhali, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India, Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

Villagers on the Bay of Bengal coast walk as they are evacuated by volunteers as a precaution against Cyclone Amphan at Bakkhali, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India, Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

In eastern India on Tuesday, emergency crews dressed in orange jumpsuits prowled coastal areas, blaring messages from megaphones that urged people to move into shelters as soon as possible. | Above: Senior State government officials alert villagers about the landfall of cyclone 'Amphan', at Pathorpratima in South 24 Paragnas, Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

Boats are anchored at a fishing harbor at Paradeep, on the Bay of Bengal coast in Orissa, India, Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

Fierce winds and intense rains have already pounded the southern Indian state of Kerala, uprooting trees, knocking down electricity poles, ripping the tiles off the roofs of many homes and damaging a famous temple. Eashwari Thampan, a shopkeeper in the Kottayam district of Kerala, said she was sitting at home with family members when a tree crashed on their roof. Her family members, she said, ran for their lives. "The wind was so strong it felt as if it was going to take us with it," Thampan said. "We thought all of us would die."

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel evacuate villagers residing in low lying seaside areas, ahead of cyclone 'Amphan' landfall, near Dhamra in Bhadrak district, Tuesday, May 19, 2020.| Ninteen teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in West Bengal. "Six teams have been deployed in South 24 Parganas, four teams each in East Midnapore and Kolkata, three teams in North 24 Parganas and one team each in Hooghly and Howrah," Nishit Upadhyay, NDRF 2nd Battalion Commandant said.

District administration evacuated fishermen from Kankadapal village ahead of cyclone 'Amphan' landfall, in Balasore district, Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Evacuated children wearing masks as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus stand at a relief camp at Paradeep, on the Bay of Bengal coast in Orissa, India, Tuesday, May 19, 2020.