PURI, India — The road to Puri was lined with large downed trees.

Electricity poles made of cement and steel lay scattered on the ground, along with roofing tiles, pieces of billboard and crumpled iron sheeting. The walls of many buildings had collapsed, leaving countless people homeless.

But on Saturday as residents of this seaside town emerged from shelters to assess the property damage unleashed by Cyclone Fani, there was a sense of relief. The storm, one of the biggest in years, had slammed into India’s eastern coast on Friday, roaring through towns with winds of 120 miles per hour.

Yet so many precious lives had been spared. Fewer than 20 fatalities were reported, compared with the thousands killed 20 years ago, when a similar cyclone swept over the same area.

That is because authorities here had whisked more than a million people to safety, executing a meticulous evacuation plan that they have been perfecting ever since that disastrous storm in 1999.