Cyclone Mocha: Bangladesh and Myanmar braced as an extremely severe cyclone started to hit coastal areas on Sunday, May 14. Thousands of people were evacuated from the coastal areas of Myanmar and Bangladesh. Myanmar Airways International said it had suspended all its flights to Rakhine state until Monday.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) earlier, Cyclone Mocha is expected to make landfall on Sunday afternoon and is likely to hit across Kyaukpyu in Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar. The wind speed in the Bay of Bengal could reach 200 kmph and an alert has been sounded for Cox Bazar seaport, Chattagram and Payra port in Bangladesh, IMD said.
One of the most powerful cyclones
Cyclone Mocha is one of the most powerful cyclones expected to hit the coast of Bangladesh in nearly two decades. “Cyclone Mocha is the most powerful storm since Cyclone Sidr,” Azizur Rahman, the head of Bangladesh’s Meteorological Department, told agencies.
On Sunday morning, the tropical cyclonic storm Mocha lay centred 410 km away from the Cox Bazar coastal area of Bangladesh.
“The ESCS “Mocha” lay centered at 0530hrs IST of 14th May 2023 over Northeast & adjoining Eastcentral Bay of Bengal near lat 18.7N & long 91.5E. likely to cross between Cox’s Bazar (Bangladesh) & Kyaukpyu (Myanmar), close to Sittwe (Myanmar) around noon of today,” the IMD said on Twitter.
It made landfall on Sunday morning between Cox’s Bazar, where nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in flimsy shelters, and Sittwe on Myanmar’s western Rakhine coast.
Wind speed of up to 220 km
Cyclone Mocha was packing winds of up to 220 kilometres per hour, said IMD, equivalent to a category four hurricane.
Bangladesh on Saturday started evacuating Rohingya refugees from “risky areas” to community centres. “Directives have been issued to evacuate to safety hundreds of thousands in our southeastern coastlines.” a spokesman said.
The weather experts expect that Cyclone Mocha could bring a deluge of rain, which can trigger landslides. The storm is also predicted to unleash a storm surge up to four meters (13 feet) high, which can inundate low-lying coastal and riverine villages.
Bangladesh suspended operations at Chittagong seaport. Boat transport and fishing were also halted.
“Cyclone ‘Mocha’ is coming. We have kept the cyclone centres and taken all types of preparations to tackle it,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said.
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