International forecasters warn Tropical Cyclone Mocha is intensifying in the very warm waters of the Bay of Bengal and is forecast to be one of the most powerful storms to hit the region in decades when it comes ashore Sunday.
The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization ((WMO)), in a statement Friday, said the storm is likely to come ashore near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border about midday Sunday, very near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh — home to the world’s largest refugee camp, with about one million Rohingya refugees.
WMO forecasters say the storm is producing maximum sustained winds of 180 km per hour, the equivalent of a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It will bring heavy rain, damaging wind and a storm surge predicted to be about 2 meters above normal and is likely to spawn flash floods and landslides.
The WMO says the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organization for Migration, World Health Organization, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are all making contingency plans and mobilizing community preparedness, based on the forecasts.
The agencies are also pre-positioning medical supplies, food and emergency shelter.
The Reuters news service, quoting UNHCR spokeswoman Olga Sarrado, said preparations were underway for a partial evacuation of the Cox’s Baza camp, if needed. The agency was also preparing tens of thousands of hot meals and setting aside cooking fuel.
Media reports say both Myanmar and Bangladesh deployed thousands of volunteers and ordered evacuations from low-lying areas ahead of the storm.
Some information is from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
