At least three people died in Myanmar (formerly Burma), after the arrival of Cyclone Mocha, the strongest in the last decade, which tore off the roofs of buildings and left several areas without telecommunications.
A rescue team from Shan state, in the east of the country, announced on the social network Facebook that it had recovered the bodies of a couple whose house was buried in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the municipality of Tachileik.
Local media reported that a man was crushed to death by a falling tree in the city of Pyin Oo Lwin, in central Mandalay.
Cyclone Mocha made landfall on Sunday afternoon near the town of Sittwe in Rakhine state with wind gusts of up to 210 km/h, Myanmar’s meteorological department said.
The extent of the data in the region is still unknown, as by early Sunday morning strong winds had brought down mobile network towers, leaving much of the area without access to telecommunications.
In videos compiled and published by the local press before the telecommunications cut, it is possible to see streets transformed into rivers and strong winds whipping trees and tearing roofs off.
Myanmar’s military intelligence office said Mocha damaged houses, power transformers, cell towers, boats and power poles in Sittwe, Kyaukpyu and Gwa districts and on Cocos Islands, some 425 kilometers southwest of the city. largest in Myanmar, Rangoon.
Authorities have evacuated more than 4,000 Sittwe residents to other towns and more than 20,000 people are sheltering in buildings such as monasteries and schools located on higher ground.
Lin Lin, president of a local charity, said there was not enough food in the Sittwe shelters, which took in more people than expected.
The representative of the UN Development Program in Myanmar said Mocha’s arrival put “two million people at risk. Damage and losses are expected to be extensive.”
“We are ready to respond and we will need unimpeded access to all affected communities,” Titon Mitra stressed, on the social network Twitter.
Myanmar state television reported that the military junta was preparing to send food, medicine and medical personnel to the storm-affected area.
The Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh, home to the world’s largest refugee camp, was in the forecast path of the storm, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.
Strong winds accompanied by rains hit the island of Saint Martin, in the Bay of Bengal, where a dozen residents were injured, while some 300 houses were destroyed or damaged, the Prothom Alo newspaper reported.
Source: TSF
