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May 16, 2023 - Mocha Makes Landfall in Myanmar
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As Cyclone Mocha approached Myanmar on May 14, 2023, the storm became one of the strongest cyclones ever seen in the North Indian Ocean, packing catastrophic maximum sustained winds of 175 miles (280 kilometers) per hour. These wind speeds place it as a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, and tied it with Cyclone Fani on May 2019 as the strongest tropical cyclone ever seen in that region, according to Yale Climate Connection.
Fortunately, the storm weakened slightly during the final hours of its approach to landfall, but Tropical Storm Mocha retained extremely high winds when it crossed onto land early on May 14, striking about 10 miles northwest of the region capital of Sittwe, in Rahkine State, Myanmar. Just before landfall, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) advised that maximum sustained winds were 155 mph (249.5 km/h), or a Category 4 storm. Yale Climate Connection notes that this also makes Mocha tied as the “second-strongest cyclone at landfall in the in the North Indian Ocean in the JTWC database. The only stronger landfalling storm in their records—and the only Cat 5 landfall—was the 1999 Odisha Cyclone of October 1999, whose catastrophic hit on India killed 9,843 people”.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a true-color image of the cyclone at 07:15 Universal Time (1:45 p.m. local time) on May 14, 2023, as the storm neared landfall. The small cloud-filled eye sits just northwest of Sittwe while the convective bands bring strong winds and rain to Bangladesh (northwest) as well as far south and inland in Myanmar.
Early reports suggest the storm caused widespread damage in Sittwe, the state capital of Rakhine, with local news sources reporting flooded streets, downed trees and power lines, and roofs torn from homes. The evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from vulnerable areas in both Bangladesh and Myanmar in advance of the storm may have helped limit casualties, according to some news reports. The worst of the storm surge also missed low-lying refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar that many observers feared were vulnerable.
According to an update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) on May 14, “Early reports suggest the damage is extensive and needs among already vulnerable communities, particularly displaced people, will be high,”. On May 15, ReliefWeb reported that, in Myanmar there have been five fatalities and more than 700 injuries reported. They also note severe damage to the Royhinga Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps as well as to houses in western Rakhine. The ReliefWeb update also notes that in Bangladesh, “a total of 414,170 people and 23,027 livestock were evacuated in 7,040 shelters in 14 coastal districts. Significant damage to thousands of refugee shelters and key facilities in camps and host communities in Cox’s Bazar district are reported but no loss of lives”.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 5/15/2023
Resolutions:
1km (493.1 KB), 500m (1.5 MB),
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
As Cyclone Mocha approached Myanmar on May 14, 2023, the storm became one of the strongest cyclones ever seen in the North Indian Ocean, packing catastrophic maximum sustained winds of 175 miles (280 kilometers) per hour. These wind speeds place it as a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, and tied it with Cyclone Fani on May 2019 as the strongest tropical cyclone ever seen in that region, according to Yale Climate Connection.
Fortunately, the storm weakened slightly during the final hours of its approach to landfall, but Tropical Storm Mocha retained extremely high winds when it crossed onto land early on May 14, striking about 10 miles northwest of the region capital of Sittwe, in Rahkine State, Myanmar. Just before landfall, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) advised that maximum sustained winds were 155 mph (249.5 km/h), or a Category 4 storm. Yale Climate Connection notes that this also makes Mocha tied as the “second-strongest cyclone at landfall in the in the North Indian Ocean in the JTWC database. The only stronger landfalling storm in their records—and the only Cat 5 landfall—was the 1999 Odisha Cyclone of October 1999, whose catastrophic hit on India killed 9,843 people”.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a true-color image of the cyclone at 07:15 Universal Time (1:45 p.m. local time) on May 14, 2023, as the storm neared landfall. The small cloud-filled eye sits just northwest of Sittwe while the convective bands bring strong winds and rain to Bangladesh (northwest) as well as far south and inland in Myanmar.
Early reports suggest the storm caused widespread damage in Sittwe, the state capital of Rakhine, with local news sources reporting flooded streets, downed trees and power lines, and roofs torn from homes. The evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from vulnerable areas in both Bangladesh and Myanmar in advance of the storm may have helped limit casualties, according to some news reports. The worst of the storm surge also missed low-lying refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar that many observers feared were vulnerable.
According to an update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) on May 14, “Early reports suggest the damage is extensive and needs among already vulnerable communities, particularly displaced people, will be high,”. On May 15, ReliefWeb reported that, in Myanmar there have been five fatalities and more than 700 injuries reported. They also note severe damage to the Royhinga Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps as well as to houses in western Rakhine. The ReliefWeb update also notes that in Bangladesh, “a total of 414,170 people and 23,027 livestock were evacuated in 7,040 shelters in 14 coastal districts. Significant damage to thousands of refugee shelters and key facilities in camps and host communities in Cox’s Bazar district are reported but no loss of lives”.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 5/15/2023
Resolutions:
1km (493.1 KB), 500m (1.5 MB),
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
