1999 Odisha Cyclone

Date: October 29, 1999 • Location: Bhubaneswar, India

About 10,000 people died when the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the North Indian Ocean made landfall in the Indian state of Odisha near Bhubaneswar.

The 1999 Odisha cyclone was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the North Indian Ocean and among the most destructive in the region. The cyclone organized into a tropical depression in the Andaman Sea on 25 October, though its origins could be traced back to an area of convection in the Sulu Sea four days prior. The disturbance gradually strengthened as it took a west-northwesterly path, reaching cyclonic storm strength the next day. Aided by highly favorable conditions, the storm rapidly intensified, attaining super cyclonic storm intensity on 28 October, before peaking on the next day with winds of 260 km/h (160 mph) and a record-low pressure of 912 hPa mbar 26.93 inHg). The storm maintained this intensity as it made landfall on Odisha on 29 October. The cyclone steadily weakened due to persistent land interaction and dry air, remaining quasi-stationary for two days before slowly drifting offshore as a much weaker system; the storm dissipated on 4 November over the Bay of Bengal.