Cyclone Mora makes landfall in Bangladesh ‎

(Vatican Radio)  A severe cyclone heavy rains and gusty winds lashed southeastern Bangladesh on Tuesday, destroying hundreds of poorly built homes in some remote islands in the Bay of Bengal, officials said.   Named Mora, the tropical storm made landfall around 6 am packing a speed of 89 kmph, rising up to 117 kmph in gusts or squalls in Cox’s Bazar district town and within 64 kms of the eye of the storm. 

At least 350,000 people had been moved to safety or were evacuated as the low-lying delta nation braced for its first strong storm of the year.  More than 1,000 shelters were set up in several districts, including Cox's Bazar and Chittagong. More than 20,000 volunteers were on hand.

Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar districts, bordering Myanmar, is also home to refugee camps for Rohingya Muslims fleeing their homeland in northwest Myanmar.  Officials in Chittagong reported winds gusting up to 135 kph and said low-lying coastal areas were flooded by a storm surge with waves 2 meters high.

Cox’s Bazar district chief Mohammad Ali Hussin said at least 15,000 houses in the district had been destroyed and he had unconfirmed reports of three people killed and dozens injured, including several Rohingya refugees.  The Bangladeshi government has estimated that in all, there are about 350,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh.

Cyclone Mora also hit Myanmar, damaging about 300 houses in Rakhine State but the extent was unclear, the government said.  But Bangladeshi weather officials said the cyclone was not as bad as they had feared.  The cyclone weakened in Bangladesh by late morning as it moved inland towards India where authorities have warned of heavy rain in the northeastern states of Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. 

The cyclone formed after monsoon rains triggered floods and landslides in Sri Lanka, off India's southern tip, killing at least 180 people in recent days, authorities said, adding 99 people were missing and 112 had been injured. 

Monsoon rains arrived at on India's southern coast on Tuesday, a weather office source said, making it the earliest since 2011 and setting India up for higher farm output and robust economic growth.