NEW DELHI, May 3 (CGTN) -- Cyclone Fani is making landfall along India's eastern coastline, according to the country's Meteorological Department.

The monster weather system, which threatened to bring a dangerous storm surge that could flood low-lying areas, is packing winds of up to 180 kilometers an hour as it rips into the country's east coast.

Forecasters say the areas could see gusts of up to 200 kilometers per hour, equivalent in strength to a Category 3 to 4 hurricane.

More than a million people have been evacuated from the eastern state of Odisha, where the storm is expected to hit hardest.

Hundreds of thousands of more people in West Bengal state have also been given orders to flee. Special teams were moving through holiday villages urging tourists to get to safety.

Fani was expected to barrel northeastwards into West Bengal and towards Bangladesh, on a trajectory that will take it over the homes of 100 million people.

India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) shared images of several uprooted trees along the coast in Andhra Pradesh state to the south.

The NDRF teams were trying to remove the fallen trees and branches to ensure they don't become projectiles if the winds intensify.

India's east coast is vulnerable to destructive storms.

In 2017 Cyclone Ockhi left nearly 250 people dead and more than 600 missing in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The 1999 storm took 10,000 lives, as well as wreaking 4.5 billion U.S. dollars worth of damage.