Category 5 Cyclone Mocha makes landfall in Myanmar, deaths reported

Thousands of people are hunkering down in monasteries, pagodas and schools, seeking shelter from a powerful storm that slammed into the coast of Myanmar, tearing the roofs off buildings and killing at least three people.

The centre of Cyclone Mocha made landfall on Sunday afternoon in Myanmar’s Rakhine state near Sittwe township wind speeds up to 209 kilometers (130 miles) per hour, Myanmar’s Meteorological Department said.

Myanmar’s military information office said the storm had damaged houses, electrical transformers, cell phone towers, boats and lampposts in Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, and Gwa townships. It said the storm also tore roofs off of sport buildings on the Coco Islands, about 425 kilometers (264 miles) southwest of the country’s largest city, Yangon.

Rakhine-based media reported that streets and basements of the houses in Sittwe’s low-lying areas were flooded. Much of the area is cut off from telephone and internet service after high winds crumpled cell phone towers.

More than 4,000 of Sittwe's 300,000 residents have been evacuated to other cities since Friday and more than 20,000 people are sheltering in sturdier buildings.

Many local people live in areas more than 3 meters above sea level, where residents believe the storm surge cannot reach, he added.

Strong winds of 40 to 48 kilometres per hour were blowing in the city, Tin Nyein Oo said on Sunday morning.

Lin Lin, the chairman of a local charitable foundation, said earlier there was not enough food in the shelters in Sittwe after more people arrived than expected.

In most of Bangladesh, the weather remained sunny and humid on Sunday morning.