NEW DELHI — The powerful cyclone that struck India’s eastern coast this weekend washed away thousands of mud homes, knocked down power lines, blocked many of the region’s roads and damaged crops and fishing boats. But reports from the region on Sunday showed the success of one of the biggest and most rapid evacuations in India’s history, an operation that moved more than 800,000 people to safety.

Just 14 years ago, a cyclone in roughly the same place killed more than 10,000 people, and over the past century, the storms that have roared out of the Bay of Bengal have left much death and destruction in their wake. But while an accurate assessment of the damage caused by this weekend’s storm will probably take weeks, the official death toll reported Sunday evening was 17, an astonishingly low number considering that 12 million people live in the storm’s path.

The success of the evacuation operation was possible largely because of vast improvements in the country’s physical infrastructure and communication systems, although the police found it necessary, at times, to coerce reluctant villagers to leave their mud and thatch homes, which were vulnerable to high winds and drenching rain, local officials said.

Most of the deaths were attributed to falling trees and collapsed houses, officials said. The cyclone, named Phailin, was expected to drop up to 10 inches of rain over two days in some areas. By late Sunday night, it had been downgraded from a cyclone to a depression, with sustained winds of 25 miles per hour and gusts of 34 miles per hour.