<Tr> <Th> Areas affected </Th> <Td> Myanmar, Bangladesh, India (particularly Odisha) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Part of the 1999 North Indian Ocean cyclone season </Td> </Tr> <P> The 1999 Odisha cyclone (IMD designation BOB 03, JTWC designation 05B) was the strongest recorded tropical cyclone in the North Indian Ocean and among the most destructive in the region . The 1999 Odisha cyclone organized into a tropical depression in the Andaman Sea on 25 October, though its origins could be traced back to an area of storms in the Sulu Sea four days prior . The disturbance gradually strengthened as it took a west - northwesterly path, reaching cyclonic storm strength the next day . Taking advantage of highly favorable conditions, the storm rapidly intensified, attaining super cyclonic storm intensity on 28 October before peaking with winds of 260 km / h (160 mph) and a record - low pressure of 912 mbar (hPa; 26.93 inHg). The storm maintained this intensity as it made landfall on Odisha on 29 October . The cyclone steadily weakened due to persistent land interaction and dry air, remaining quasi-stationary for two days before slowly drifting offshore as a much weaker system; the storm dissipated on 1 November over the Bay of Bengal . </P> <P> Although its primary effects were felt in a localized area of India, the outer fringes of the super cyclone impacted Myanmar and Bangladesh . Ten people were killed in the former, while two were killed in the later by the storm's rainbands . The storm was the most severe to strike Odisha in the 20th century, raking the state and adjacent areas with high storm surge, powerful winds, and torrential rainfall . The storm's impacts exacerbated the damage caused by a very severe cyclone that struck the same region less than two weeks earlier . The 5 - 6 m (16 - 20 ft) surge brought water up to 35 km (20 mi) inland, carrying along with it coastal debris and inundating towns and villages . The surge combined with heavy rains to produce widespread flooding, damaging around 1.6 million homes and causing rivers to breach 20,005 flood embankments . The storm's effects destroyed numerous crops, including sugar cane, rice, and other winter - time harvests . Although estimates of the death toll varied significantly--at times suggesting 30,000 fatalities--the Government of India enumerated 9,887 fatalities in the country, of which a majority were caused by storm surge; over 8,000 deaths occurred in Jagatsinghpur . The total damage cost of the destruction wrought by the super cyclone amounted to US $4.44 billion . </P>

The super cyclone which slammed orissa in 1999 was with an approximate wind speed of