C T Online Desk: Several lakh people were evacuated in Bangladesh’s south-eastern and southern seaboards as the very severe cyclone Mocha made a deadly approach to the coast, threatening to trigger powerful storm surges, landslides, battering waves and flooding rain during its landfall on Bangladesh-Myanmar coasts today.
Packed with 180-km-per-hour wind, rising up to 200km, and producing even 50-foot waves, the cyclone was at the centre of all attention and discussions, drawing on Saturday afternoon the highest storm alert — great danger signal number 10 — for the maritime port district of Cox’s Bazar.
‘This is the highest alert for a cyclonic storm implying that life and property are in grave danger from an incoming cyclone,’ said Azizur Rahman, director, Bangladesh Meteorological Department, after raising the storm alert in a press conference at his office.
The Department of Disaster Management confirmed the evacuation of 275,485 people, including 117,655 women and 59,244 children, in six coastal districts until 9:30pm.
The maritime ports of Chattogram and Payra were put under danger signal number eight while the port of Mongla under the danger signal number four.
The southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar, where the storm is forecast to start moving onto land, along with Chattogram and 10 other coastal districts and their offshore islands and chars were put under the great danger signal 10 or eight, implying that they are likely to be in the path of a very severe cyclone.
The cyclonic storm, which kept intensifying rapidly on the warm waters of the east central Bay of Bengal until Saturday afternoon, prompted authorities to partially postpone national exams, suspend inland river transportation and operations at sea and two air ports and close down two offshore liquefied natural gas terminals and scores of educational institutions.
At 6:00pm on Saturday, the BMD said in a special weather bulletin, Mocha was 605 km south-southwest of the Chattogram port, 525 km south-southwest of the Cox’s Bazar port, 625 km south of the Mongla port and 565 km south of the Payra port.
The cyclone, with a 350km radius, moved at 22 km an hour and would make landfall as a cyclone with the maximum sustained wind speed of 213 km per hour, according to the US-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
The JTWC said that the cyclone developed a well-defined eye wall — a sign of the storm’s heavy strength. The cyclone was packed with wind blowing over 240 km an hour with gusts of 296 km per hour, the JTWC forecast of the cyclone showed at 10:00pm Bangladesh time.
The JTWC said that the cyclone might make landfall slightly earlier than the forecast.
The BMD said that the cyclone was likely to move in a north-northeasterly direction and cross Cox’s Bazar and Myanmar coasts between 9:00am and 6:00pm today.
Cyclones usually take four to six hours to complete their landfall and the strength of Mocha is forecast to rapidly decrease after the landfall because of the rugged terrain in the coastal areas and unfavorable weather condition such as dry air.
‘The strongest part of the cyclone might start crossing land at about 3:00pm (Saturday),’ said Azizur Rahman.
The morning of Friday was eerily calm to the coastal dwellers, bringing back the memory of the morning just before the extremely severe cyclonic storm Sidr packed with wind up to 215 km per hour struck in November 2007, killing between 3,500 and 15,000 people and causing damages worth more than $2 billion.
Unlike Sidr, Mocha is forecast to impact Bangladesh only partially, mainly affecting Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban and Rangamati.
A total of 38 other districts, however, will be impacted, more or less, by the cyclone, the BMD said.
The BMD warned that the coastal districts under alert might experience coastal surge up to 12 feet above the astronomical tide.
The Chattogram, Sylhet and Barishal divisions might get more than 89mm rain while heavy to very heavy rainfall is also likely over the hilly regions of Cox’s Bazar, Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachari, potentially triggering landslides.
On Friday, night descended on Cox’s Bazar filled with anticipations as groups of people with their families and herds of domestic animals travelled on foot and in vehicles towards cyclone shelters amid ominous announcements about the incoming cyclone being made through loudspeakers in the background.
Many of the shelter seekers came from quite a distance, from remote islands and chars, preoccupied with the thought of losing most of what they had to leave behind — maybe a member of their family or material belonging, reported New Age corresponded in Cox’s Bazar.
‘We are frightened. We want to live,’ said Abdul Khaleque, 39, who sought shelter at the court building in the Cox’s Bazar town, at 5:00pm, along with his herd of goats.
About 2,00,000 people have sought refuge in 620 cyclone shelters by 8:00pm in Cox’s Bazar as thousands of volunteers assisted the government efforts to bring as many people as possible to cyclone shelters.
Cox’s Bazar is home to more than 23 lakh people, including half a five lakh living close to the coast.
About 400 hotels and restaurants in the Cox’s Bazar town were declared cyclone shelters on Saturday.
‘We have opened our doors to welcome any one whose life is in danger because of the cyclone,’ said Abul Kashem Shikdar, a leader of the hotel owners association in Cox’s Bazar.
Over 8,000 people have been evacuated on St Martin’s island, a tiny island about 9 km of the southern tip of mainland Bangladesh, on Saturday. The island, which had been evacuating since May 11, is forecast to see the monstrous cyclone blow over its head.
New Age correspondents in Patuakhali and Barishal also reported evacuation of several thousand families from remote chars and islands since Saturday afternoon.
‘We expect to bring 10 lakh people to shelters before the cyclone hit,’ Ahmadul Haque, the chief of the Cyclone Preparedness Programme told New Age.
More than 10 lakh Rohingya refugees at sprawling camps in Teknaf, the southernmost tip of mainland Bangladesh, remained right in the path of the cyclone under the blanket of beefed-up security so that they could not leave the camps taking advantage of the disaster.
Authorities said they could not afford to evacuate such a massive population but identified 20,000 people for evacuation to relatively safer places inside the camps due to landslide fear.
New Age correspondent in Chattogram reported that more than 21,000 people were evacuated until 7:00pm.
The overcast skies of the coastal Bangladesh drizzled after the nightfall on Friday, indicating the cyclone’s further advance towards land.
‘The sky maintained a fearsome look throughout Friday. We are scared,’ said Ali Hussain, a resident of Kuakata, who came to a cyclone shelter with his family and his makeshift shop.
At the Patharghata fish landing centre and canals in Barishal, about 3,000 fishing trawlers have taken shelter.
Golam Mostafa Chowdhury, president, Bangladesh Fishery Trawler Owners Association, feared that many fishermen could still be at deep sea.
The cyclone was forecast to reach the wind speed of a super cyclone of over 221 km at some points of its journey towards land.
But before making landfall, the cyclone was expected to slightly lose its strength.
‘But you never know what happens with a cyclone. It can stay as it is or become even stronger or could move a bit more towards Bangladesh,’ said former meteorologist Abdul Mannan.
