Cyclone Mocha now Category 5 - May bring heavy rains to parts of Thailand

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At the time of this post - Sunday, May 14, 1:30pm - the skies over Pattaya are slightly overcast with plenty of bright light shining through. There are no signs of approaching bad weather. If bad weather does occur, it is expected to be mostly in the north of Thailand. Of course I will keep you updated of any significant changes. The cyclone will not affect national voting in Thailand, which is today.
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by The Nation

May 12, 2023

The North, Central, Eastern and Southern regions of Thailand will experience isolated heavy to very heavy rains from Friday to Monday due to the influence of tropical cyclone “Mocha”, the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) said on Friday.

The cyclone, which was hovering over the central Bay of Bengal as of 4am Friday, was moving north at about 10 km/hr with sustained winds of about 105 km/hr. It is expected to make landfall over Myanmar on either Sunday or Monday (May 14-15).

The TMD advised people in affected areas to beware of the severe conditions that may cause flash floods and overflows.

The department also forecast that from Saturday to Monday, waves in the upper Andaman Sea will rise to 2-3 metres in height and over 3 metres off shore due to strong southwesterly winds. All ships should proceed with caution and small boats in the upper Andaman Sea should stay ashore until Monday.

Earlier on Tuesday, the TMD dismissed rumours doing the rounds on social media that the country will be hit by two cyclones on Sunday May 14, the day of the general election.

The department has not detected any storms that will hit Thailand from Tuesday to next Monday and no storms are forming over the South China Sea, Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn told the press on Tuesday.

He added that although Cyclone Mocha will not make landfall in Thailand, its influence will unleash heavy rain in the North from Thursday to Sunday.

The southwest winds will strengthen on Sunday, he added, bringing heavy rain to about 60% of the country.

https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand ... l/40027538
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Category 5 Cyclone Mocha set to crash over Myanmar, Bangladesh

May 14, 2023

KYAUKTAW, Myanmar: Cyclone Mocha intensified into a category five hurricane on Sunday, hours ahead of its predicted landfall in Myanmar and Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of people evacuated from the coasts were taking shelter.

Mocha was packing winds of up to 140 knots or 259 kilometres per hour, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said, the equivalent to a category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

It is forecast to make landfall around 0630 GMT between Cox's Bazar, where nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in camps largely made up of flimsy shelters, and Sittwe on Myanmar's western Rakhine coast.

"The wind is getting stronger at the moment," rescue worker Kyaw Kyaw Khaing told AFP from Pauktaw town, about 25 kilometres inland from Sittwe, and where he said around 3,000 people had arrived to seek shelter.

"We distributed enough food for one or two meals to the people evacuated to temporary shelters. I don't think we will be able to send any food today due to the weather."

Thousands left Sittwe on Saturday, packing into trucks, cars and tuk-tuks and heading for higher ground inland as meteorologists warned of a storm surge of up to 3.5 metres.

"We are not OK because we didn't bring food and other things to cook," said Maung Win, 57, who spent the night in a shelter in Kyauktaw town. "We can only wait to get food from people's donations."

Bangladeshi authorities moved 190,000 people in Cox's Bazar and nearly 100,000 in Chittagong to safety, divisional commissioner Aminur Rahman told AFP late Saturday.

The rain and wind were felt in Myanmar's commercial hub Rangoon, around 500 kilometres away, residents said Sunday.

- 'Major emergency' -

The Myanmar Red Cross Society said it was "preparing for a major emergency response".

In Bangladesh, authorities have banned Rohingya refugees from constructing concrete homes, fearing it may incentivise them to settle permanently rather than return to Myanmar, which they fled five years ago following a brutal military crackdown.

"We live in houses made of tarpaulin and bamboo," said refugee Enam Ahmed, at the Nayapara camp near the border town of Teknaf.

"We are scared. We don't know where we will be sheltered."

The camps are generally slightly inland, but most of them are built on hillsides, exposing them to the threat of landslides.

Forecasters expect the cyclone to bring a deluge of rain, which can trigger landslips.

Officials moved to evacuate Rohingya refugees from "risky areas" to community centres and more solid structures such as schools.

But Bangladesh's deputy refugee commissioner Shamsud Douza told AFP: "All the Rohingyas in the camps are at risk."

Hundreds of people also fled Saint Martin's island, a local resort area right in the storm's path, with thousands more moving to cyclone shelters on the coral outcrop.

"Cyclone Mocha is the most powerful storm since Cyclone Sidr," Azizur Rahman, the head of Bangladesh's Meteorological Department, told AFP.

Sidr hit Bangladesh's southern coast in November 2007, killing more than 3,000 people and causing billions of dollars in damage.

Rohingya living in displacement camps inside Myanmar were also bracing for the storm.

"We are very worried. We can be in danger if the water level increases," said a camp leader near Kyaukphyu in Rakhine state, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions from the junta.

"There are about 1000 people at the camp... The authorities only gave us rice bags, oil and five life jackets. Local authorities haven't arranged any place for us."

Operations were suspended at Bangladesh's largest seaport, Chittagong, with boat transport and fishing also halted.

Cyclones -- the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the Northwest Pacific -- are a regular and deadly menace on the coast of the northern Indian Ocean where tens of millions of people live.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/25702 ... bangladesh

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No significant weather changes in Pattaya or Bangkok. The skies in Pattaya are mildly overcast and a 50% chance of rain is predicted for today. That is normal for this time of year.
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Western Myanmar pummeled by Cyclone Mocha as storm makes landfall

By Angus Watson, Chris Lau and Laura Paddison, CNN

May 14, 2023

(CNN)- Western Myanmar is being battered by strong winds and heavy rain after Cyclone Mocha made landfall on the Bay of Bengal coastline Sunday.

The cyclone brought wind speeds of over 200 kilometers per hour (195 mph), blowing roofs off buildings and bringing down powerlines, video footage showed

Trees have been uprooted and a telecommunications tower was left crumpled, according to local news organization The Irrawaddy.

The cyclone has pushed almost entirely inland over Myanmar and continues to rapidly weaken although it is still bringing strong winds and heavy rain to the country.

Mocha is expected to dissipate over northern Myanmar Monday night into Tuesday morning local time.

“Most” people in the city of Sittwe have left for smaller regional villages or taken shelter in Sittwe’s monasteries, the UN says.

The region is home to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting, the UN says.

There is particular concern over the one million Rohingya and other Muslim minorities from Myanmar who live in refugee camps outside of Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department said Sunday that Mocha is likely to move north-northeasterly across Rakhine State in Myanmar and “completely cross” Cox’s Bazar.

Aid agencies in Bangladesh and Myanmar say they have launched a massive emergency plan as the storm brings the threat of flooding and landslides.

Disaster response teams and more than 3,000 local volunteers who have been trained in disaster preparedness and first aid have been put on standby in the camps, and a national cyclone early warning system is in place, according to Sanjeev Kafley, Head of Delegation of the IFRC Bangladesh Delegation.

Rohingya refugees preparing for the worst

About 1 million members of the stateless Rohingya community, who fled persecution in nearby Myanmar during a military crackdown in 2017, are living in the sprawling and overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar.

Most live in bamboo and tarpaulin shelters perched on hilly slopes that are vulnerable to strong winds, rain, and landslides.

There are also concerns for 30,000 Rohingya refugees housed on an isolated and flood-prone island facility in the Bay of Bengal, called Bhasan Char.

The UN refugee agency said volunteers and medical teams are on standby and cyclone shelters and food provisions are available for those living on the island.

The past few decades have seen an increase in the strength of tropical cyclones affecting countries in parts of Asia and recent research predicts they could have double the destructive power in the region by the end of the century.

While scientists are still trying to understand ways climate change is affecting cyclones, a slew of research has linked human-caused global warming to more potent and destructive cyclones.

Bangladesh and Myanmar are particularly threatened because they are low-lying, as well as being home to some of the world’s poorest people.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/14/asia ... index.html