A cyclone packing strong winds and rains barrelled into India’s east coast late yesterday, as tens of thousands of people in three states were evacuated to shelters. Cyclones are a regular menace in the northern Indian Ocean but many scientists say they are becoming more frequent and severe as climate change warms sea temperatures. Cyclone Gulab made landfall between the coastal states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh just after 6:00 pm local time, bearing gusts of up to 95 kilometres per hour, India Meteorological Department said. The storm system from the Bay of Bengal would bring “strong winds and very heavy (and) extremely heavy rainfall”, the weather bureau added in an advisory yesterday.