As a “very dangerous” tropical cyclone was scheduled to make landfall in the country on Saturday, the authorities initiated a massive evacuation effort to evacuate up to half a million people along the southeastern beaches. This was done because the Rohingya refugee camp, which is the largest in the world, was in danger of being destroyed by the storm.
On Sunday (May 14), the chief of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) stated that Bangladesh’s one and only coral island, Saint Martin’s, may become temporarily flooded as a result of the impact of Cyclone Mocha.
The Director of BMD, Md. Azizur Rahman, stated that “because there is no major infrastructure on the island, the storm will not get obstructed anywhere and will hit the island directly.” Due to the severity of the storm, it is possible that St. Martin’s will be submerged in water for an extended period of time after the storm’s centre passes over the island. The water will travel from one side of the island to the other as the storm moves across St. Martin’s.
However, the water won’t remain stationary, and it can even migrate away from the shore. The scenario is largely predicated on how quickly the storm moves,” he went on to say.
Shahinul Islam, a meteorologist, predicted that the bulk and heart of the storm would pass over Myanmar, and that the remainder of the storm would hit the shore of Cox’s Bazar.
As a “very dangerous” tropical cyclone was scheduled to make landfall in the country on Saturday, the authorities initiated a massive evacuation effort to evacuate up to half a million people along the southeastern beaches. This was done because the Rohingya refugee camp, which is the largest in the world, was in danger of being destroyed by the storm.
It is anticipated that on Sunday, the path of Cyclone Mocha would take it towards the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Mocha is one of the most violent cyclones Bangladesh has witnessed in over two decades.
“The cyclone known as ‘Mocha’ is on its way. “We have kept the cyclone centres and taken all types of preparations to deal with it,” the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, had stated earlier.
The decision to evacuate was made since the maritime port of Cox’s Bazar was given the advice to raise the danger signal no. 10 because it is anticipated that Cyclone Mocha would get even more intense and move in a path that is more north-northwesterly.
According to forecasts provided by meteorologists, the storm will make landfall near the southeastern border area of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, which is home to more than one million Rohingya refugees.