The storm made landfall near Lat 20.5N and Lon 92.9E, about 40 km north of Sittwe (Myanmar) and 145 km southeast of Cox’s Bazar (Bangladesh), as a category five storm.
The storm surges whipped up by the cyclone inundated the Myanmar port city of Sittwe, the capital of Myanmar's Rakhine state. Streets were turned into rivers as winds of up to 130 miles per hour ripped away tin roofs and brought down a communications tower.
Two people were killed in a landslide, and a man died in Myanmar after a tree fell on him. The cyclone also damaged houses, electrical transformers, mobile phone towers, boats and lampposts in Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, and Gwa townships.
In Bangladesh, authorities moved around 300,000 people to safer areas before the storm hit. Rohingya refugees inside densely-populated camps in the Cox's Bazar in the southeast of the country hunkered down inside their ramshackle homes. Mocha spared a densely-populated cluster of refugee camps in low-lying neighbouring Bangladesh.
More than 4,000 of Sittwe's 300,000 residents were evacuated to other cities, and over 20,000 people are sheltering in sturdy buildings such as monasteries, pagodas, and schools located on the city's highlands. The Indian Meteorological Department reported that ‘Very Severe Cyclonic Storm 'Mocha' weakened into a severe cyclonic storm over Myanmar.’
Mocha is continuing the weakening trend and will become a cyclonic storm during the next few hours, according to the Meteorological Department. Despite this, authorities are still warning residents to stay vigilant and take precautions.
The storm is considered the biggest storm to hit the Bay of Bengal in over a decade, and its impact on coastal communities in Myanmar and Bangladesh has been severe. Authorities in both countries are assessing the damage caused by the cyclone, and rescue teams are working to provide aid to affected residents.
