At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away. In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar's southwestern Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy Region with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River delta. “The cyclone is severe and will likely affect millions of fishers and coastal communities in Bangladesh and Myanmar.' “This is the first cyclone system in the north Indian Ocean this year,” said Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, a senior scientist at the Indian Meteorological Department. Read more | Cyclone Mocha: How and why cyclones are named?Įvacuation of nearly 500,000 people is expected to start Saturday with 576 cyclone shelters ready to provide refuge to those moved from their homes along a vast coast, said Bangladesh government administrator Muhammad Shaheen Imran.

The storm is expected to roar in on Sunday with a wind speed of up to 160 kilometres per hour, gusting to 175 kph between Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, India's Meteorological Department said.īangladesh is a delta nation of more than 160 million people and is prone to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones. Authorities in Bangladesh and Myanmar prepared to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people Friday, warning them to stay away from coastal areas as a severe cyclonic storm called Mocha churned in the Bay of Bengal.

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