Mass evacuations have spared India the widespread deaths many had feared from a powerful cyclone that roared ashore over the weekend, officials have said.

An immense, powerful cyclone that lashed the Indian coast, forcing 500,000 people to evacuate and causing widespread damage.

The strongest cyclone to threaten India in more than a decade is approaching its east coast as authorities drove tens of thousands of villagers from their coastal homes to government shelters inland.