Two dead, thousands evacuated as Cyclone Fani pummels India’s Orissa

Two people died on Friday after Cyclone Fani slammed into eastern India, officials said, as the storm sent coconut trees flying, blew away food stands and cut off power and water.The monster weather system, which made landfall at the eastern city of Puri in the morning, is one of the strongest to come in off the Indian Ocean in years, with winds gusting at speeds of up to 200 kilometres (125 miles) per hour.In recent days authorities in Orissa state, where 10,000 people died in a 1999 cyclone,…