Typhoon Threatens Crowded Coast of India

BANGKOK, Thailand — Typhoon Gay, packing winds of 145 m.p.h., headed across the Bay of Bengal for the crowded coast of India on Wednesday after leaving 212 people confirmed dead and more than 520 missing in its path across Thailand, officials said.

Meteorological officials in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh said the storm’s intensity was comparable to a cyclone that killed more than 10,000 people in the state in 1977.

Officials were preparing to evacuate people from low areas and medical and relief teams were being dispatched to the coast.

In Thailand, where the storm struck Friday and Saturday, the Interior Ministry put the confirmed death toll at 212, with about half of the victims lost at sea and the other half killed on shore.