The cyclone also affected the Indian state of West Bengal as well as East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), which had been devastated by the 1970 Bhola cyclone just less than a year prior and was in the middle of Bangladesh Liberation War.

At its peak intensity, the storm made landfall on the coast of Odisha near Paradip early on the morning of October 30 and weakened the same day.

The storm surge flooded low lying areas of the Odisha coast, resulting in more than 10,000 deaths and killing 50,000 cattle.

Communications and power lines were cut for days, preventing news of the disaster from reaching the outside world.

Coastal districts of Odisha such as Bhadrak, Balasore, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur were widely affected by this cyclone, since gusts were recorded to be up to 175 kph (108-110mph) there.