After becoming a category-five storm, a strong cyclone made landfall on the shores of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Strong gusts and heavy rain produced by Cyclone Mocha had residents of low-lying coastal communities terrified they would lose their homes.
The largest refugee camp in the world, Cox’s Bazar, has lost more than 1,300 bamboo huts.
Floods and landslides are also occurring in the region.
Police in the town of Cox’s Bazar were using loudspeakers to warn residents to stay indoors as the storm neared.
As the cyclone got stronger, the streets started to empty, the skies got darker, the winds got stronger, and the rain got heavier.
Hundreds of people rushed into a metropolitan school that had been temporarily converted into a cyclone shelter.
In the classrooms, pregnant women, young children, the elderly, and the weak crammed themselves into every available space, sleeping on desks and sitting under them.
According to local authorities, more than 500,000 people in this southeast corner of Bangladesh had to be evacuated from their houses.
Many people arrived at the shelter on foot and in rickshaws, bringing their livestock, including cattle, chickens, and goats, as well as mats for sleeping.
They had made a challenging decision to travel from fishing and seaside settlements up to two hours distant.
Sumi Akter, who resides near a riverside, stated, “I didn’t want to leave my house.”
Sumi and other people we met here claim to have seen recent cyclones firsthand and are used to routinely leaving their houses to the whims of nature.
Sumi and other residents of this area are concerned that their homes would be swamped because storm waves of up to four metres could flood settlements in low-lying areas.
She added, “I wish the houses we lived in were built more solidly.
We had met Jannat, a 17-year-old, in the same shelter the day before. She revealed that she shared our fear of returning to her home on the riverside.
Her home was wrecked by the storm Sitrang last year, forcing her to spend what little money she had on repairs.
How am I going to survive if this keeps happening? We are so impoverished that I can’t afford to rebuild it, she said.
The underprivileged at the nearby largest refugee camp in the world were also being punished by nature.
The government of Bangladesh forbids Rohingya refugees from setting up permanent constructions or leaving the camps.
They took cover in rickety bamboo shelters with tarpaulin roofs as the typhoon approached. Some were transferred to communal shelters inside the camps, but these provided only marginally more security.
More than 1,300 shelters, as well as 16 mosques and educational facilities, were damaged by the wind, authorities informed the BBC. In addition to two landslides that caused some damage, trees had fallen in the campgrounds.
Mohammed Ayub’s shelter’s tarpaulin was ripped off by the wind. His eight-person family is currently living outside in the gloomy, rainy weather.
Mohammed was happy that the camps were spared a direct impact from Cyclone Mocha after spending the days prior in fear of what it might bring.
As far as he was aware, there were no cyclone-related deaths in the camps, according to Mizanur Rahman of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner.
Cyclone Mocha, according to forecasters, might be Bangladesh’s strongest cyclone in nearly two decades. It also made a tremendous impact on adjacent Myanmar.
As the storm system advanced towards the coast, the area was pummelling by fierce winds and heavy rain. Starting around 13:00 (07:00 GMT), there were reports of increasing disruption close to the city of Sittwe in Myanmar.
In several parts of the Sittwe region, wi-fi and electricity were disconnected. Videos from the area showed the tide dramatically rising and bringing debris down flooded streets.
As the cyclone neared, the strong winds caused a telecom tower to collapse. Videos posted to social media also showed billboards blowing off buildings and roofs being blown off houses in Yangon during torrential downpours.
Images from Mrauk U showed metal roofing sheets being blown onto the street, palm trees bending in the wind, and a few people still rushing to find shelter in storm shelters.
In addition to reports of damaged and fallen structures in several parts of Myanmar, local media said that a 14-year-old boy was killed in Rakhine State by a falling tree.
According to the Bangladeshi meteorological authority, the maximum sustained wind speed within 75 kilometres (45 miles) of the cyclone’s centre was around 195 kilometres per hour (120 mph), with gusts and squalls reaching 215 kilometres per hour.
In advance of the storm, surrounding airports had been closed, fishermen had been told to stop working, and 1,500 shelters had been built up as residents of susceptible locations were relocated to safer areas.
Despite the storm’s intensity, Cox’s Bazar authorities said that no one died as a result of the cyclone.
After the storm passed, there was relief as families started to emerge from their shelters.
Because of the ongoing disruption from the harsh weather, evacuations in this area have been credited with saving lives.
