Cyclone Mocha makes landfall; Myanmar, Bangladesh on high alert

The "extremely severe cyclonic storm" Mocha made landfall on the coast of Myanmar's Rakhine state on Sunday afternoon, Myanmar's Meteorological Department said. Reportedly, the cyclone's outermost band reached Rakhine on Sunday morning, while the center of the cyclonic storm made landfall near the Sittwe township in the afternoon. Myanmar is under the highest weather alert, with wind speeds predicted to reach up to 210km/h.

• Heavy rains along with gales are currently being witnessed over the northern coasts of Myanmar and Bangladesh as the forward sector of the cyclone's eye wall is entering these coastal areas, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated.
• The cyclonic storm began hitting the coastlines of Myanmar and Bangladesh on Sunday after it intensified into the equivalent of a category-five storm.

According to Myanmar's military information office, Cyclone Mocha had damaged lampposts, houses, boats, cell phone towers, and electrical transformers in the townships of Sittwe, Gwa, and Kyaukpyu. The storm also ripped through roofs of the sports buildings on the Coco Islands, about 425 kilometers southwest of the country's largest city Yangon, reported news agency Associated Press (AP).

On Sunday morning, numerous deaths caused by rain and wind were reported in different parts of Myanmar. A rescue team from the Shan state in the country's east announced that they had recovered the dead bodies of a couple in the Tachileik township. They were reportedly buried in a landslide caused due to heavy rain.

On the other hand, authorities in Bangladeshi's Cox's Bazar, which fell in Cyclone Mocha's previously predicted course, stated that they had evacuated around 1.27 million people earlier. But by Sunday afternoon, it seemed that the cyclonic storm would mostly miss the nation as it veered toward the east, Bangladesh Meteorological Department Director Azizur Rahman said.

As per reports, the weather was fairly sunny and humid in most parts of Bangladesh as of Sunday morning. Meanwhile, United Nations (UN) agencies and aid workers in the country prepositioned tons of dry food and numerous ambulances with mobile medical teams in refugee camps that accommodate over one million Rohingya refugees who fled persecution in Myanmar.

Authorities in Bangladesh revealed that heavy downpours from the cyclonic storm could trigger landslides in Cox's Bazar and Chattogram and other hilly districts of the country like Bandarban, Rangamati, and Khagrachhari. Meanwhile, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier also ordered officials in the country to prepare for rescue and evacuation operations in case Cyclone Mocha made a devastating landfall.