INDIAN authorities closed schools, evacuated hundreds of thousands of people and cancelled trains in parts of the country as rescue teams braced for a tropical storm brewing in the Bay of Bengal today.

Tropical Storm Dana is expected to intensify, bringing winds of 62-68mph and gusts up to 74mph as it pushes toward the country’s eastern coastline where it is set to make landfall, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.

Climate scientists say severe storms are becoming more frequent in south Asia. Global warming driven by planet-heating gases has caused them to become more extreme and unpredictable.