Rescue workers and locals react as they try to remove the fallen tress after a storm in Teknaf, Bangladesh. Photo / AP
Rescue workers and locals react as they try to remove the fallen tress after a storm in Teknaf, Bangladesh. Photo / AP
Rescuers early today evacuated about 1000 people trapped by seawater 3.6m deep along western Myanmar’s coast after a powerful cyclone injured hundreds and cut off communications in one of Asia’s least-developed countries.
The extent of the damage and the death toll are not yet known.
Strong winds injuredmore than 700 of about 20,000 people who were sheltering in sturdier buildings on the highlands of Sittwe township such as monasteries, pagodas and schools, according to a leader of the Rakhine Youths Philanthropic Association in Sittwe. He asked not to be named because of fear of reprisals from the authorities in the military-run country.
Seawater raced into more than 10 low-lying wards near the shore as Cyclone Mocha made landfall in Rakhine state on Sunday afternoon, he said. Residents moved to roofs and higher floors, while the wind and storm surge prevented immediate rescue.
“After 4 pm yesterday, the storm weakened a bit, but the water did not fall back. Most of them sat on the roof and at the high places of their houses the whole night. The wind blew all night,” the rescue group leader said.
Water was still about 1.5m high in flooded areas Monday morning, but rescues were being made as the wind calmed and the sun rose in the sky. He asked civil society organisations and authorities to send aid and help evacuate residents.
At least three deaths had been reported earlier in Myanmar, and several injuries were reported in neighbouring Bangladesh, which was spared the predicted direct hit.
Women and children at a makeshift shelter set up for residents of coastal areas. Photo / AP
Mocha made landfall near Sittwe township with winds blowing up to 209km/h, Myanmar’s Meteorological Department said. By Monday morning, it was downgraded from its severe status and was steadily weakening over land, according to the India Meteorological Department.
High winds crumpled cell phone towers during the day, cutting off communications. In videos collected by local media before communications were lost, deep water raced through streets and wind blew off roofs.
Myanmar’s military information office said the storm had damaged houses, electrical transformers, cell phone towers, boats and lampposts in Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, and Gwa townships. It said roofs were torn off buildings on the Coco Islands, about 425km southwest of the country’s largest city, Yangon.
Local people walk on a flooded street caused by heavy rain as Cyclone Mocha approaches. Photo / AP
Volunteers previously said shelters in Sittwe did not have enough food after more people arrived there seeking help.
Mocha largely spared the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar, which initially had been in the storm’s predicted path. Authorities had evacuated hundreds of thousands of people before the cyclone veered east.
About a dozen people were injured on Saint Martin’s Island, while some 300 homes were either destroyed or damaged, leading Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo reported.
Buildings damaged by Cyclone Mocha. Photo / Myanmar Military True News Information
UN agencies and aid workers in Bangladesh had prepositioned tons of dry food and dozens of ambulances in the refugee camps that house more than 1 million Rohingya Muslims who fled persecution in Myanmar.
In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.
Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune city, said cyclones in the Bay of Bengal were becoming more intense more quickly, in part because of climate change.
Climate scientists say cyclones can now retain their energy for many days. Cyclone Amphan in eastern India in 2020 continued to travel over land as a strong cyclone and caused extensive devastation.
“As long as oceans are warm and winds are favourable, cyclones will retain their intensity for a longer period,” Koll said.
Tropical cyclones, which are called hurricanes or typhoons in other regions, are among the world’s most devastating natural disasters when they hit densely populated coastal areas.
