A huge cyclone that has forced as many as 500,000 people to flee their homes has made landfall in eastern India.

An Indian rickshaw man bikes through heavy rain in Berhampur, about 180 kilometres south from eastern city Bhubaneswar. Nearly half a million people have been evacuated from India's impoverished east coast ahead of a massive cyclone expected to make landfall on October 12 evening, disaster officials said.