NEW DELHI (AP) A powerful cyclone slammed ashore Wednesday along the coastline of India and Bangladesh where more than 2.6 million people fled to shelters in a frantic evacuation made all the more challenging by the coronavirus pandemic.

Cyclone Amphan, an equivalent of a category-3 hurricane, was packing winds of up to 170 kilometers (105 miles) per hour and maximum gusts of 190 kph (118 mph). Authorities warned it could wreck extensive damage to flimsy houses and a storm surge may push seawater 25 kilometers (15 miles) inland, flooding cities including Kolkata.

The densely populated regions are home to some of the most vulnerable communities in South Asia: poor fishing communities in the Sunderbans and over a million Rohingya refugees living in the crowded camps in Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh.

The cyclone began to make landfall Wednesday afternoon between Digha, a seaside resort in West Bengal, and Hatiya Islands in Bangladesh. The eye of the storm is likely to pass through the Sunderbans, one of the largest mangrove forests in the world, Indias meteorological department said.

The forests could act as a vital line of defense by dissipating some of the energy from the waves that would otherwise crash into the coastline, said K.J. Ramesh, the departments former chief.

Bangladesh is attempting to evacuate 2.2 million people to safety. Indias West Bengal state moved nearly 300,000 and Odisha state another 148,486 people, officials said.

In Coxs Bazar, where the first 10 coronavirus cases were confirmed last week, authorities and U.N. workers prepared 50 shelters and assigned 256 volunteer units.