A powerful storm has hit the coastline of Bangladesh and Myanmar with the intensity of a Category 5 cyclone.
Cyclone Mocha brought with it heavy rain and strong winds, causing residents in low-lying coastal areas to fear they could lose their homes.
More than 500 bamboo shelters have been destroyed in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee camp.
Landslides and floods are also affecting the region.
As the storm approached, police patrolled the coastline in the town of Cox’s Bazar with loudspeakers, urging people to stay indoors.
Roads emptied as the storm intensified – skies darkened, winds picked up and rain fell.
Hundreds of people crammed into a city school that had been turned into a makeshift cyclone shelter.
Mothers with babies, toddlers, the elderly and the infirm sleep on and under desks in any available space in classrooms.
Officials here say more than 500,000 people have been driven from their homes in this southeastern part of Bangladesh.
As many people arrived at the shelter in rickshaws and on foot, they brought their livestock – cattle, chickens, goats – as well as sleeping mats.
They came from fishing and coastal villages, at most two hours away, making a difficult choice.
“I didn’t want to leave my house,” said Sami Akhtar, a riverside resident.
Somi and others we met here say they have lived through other storms in recent years and are resigned to the regular pattern of leaving their homes at the mercy of nature.
Storm surges of up to four meters could engulf low-lying villages, with Sumi and others fearing their homes could be flooded.
He said that I wish the houses we lived in were built more strongly.
Not far from the cyclone shelters, around one million Rohingya refugees were also feeling the effects of the storm.
The government of Bangladesh does not allow refugees to leave the camps or build permanent structures.
As the cyclone hit, they hunkered down in flimsy bamboo shelters with tarpaulin roofs. Some were relocated to community shelters within the camps, which provided somewhat greater protection.
Officials told JEE News that around 500 shelters had been damaged by the winds. Trees also fell in the camps while two landslides caused some damage.
Mizanur Rehman from the Refugee Relief and Return Commissioner said that as far as he knew, there were no casualties in the camps as a result of the storm.
Forecasters have warned that Cyclone Mocha could be the most powerful storm to hit Bangladesh in nearly two decades. It also targeted neighboring Myanmar with great force.
Heavy rain and gusty winds battered the region as the storm system moved towards the coast, with reports of increased disturbances near Sittwe, Myanmar, from around 13:00 (07:00 GMT).
Power and Wi-Fi connections were cut across much of the Sittwe area, where videos showed the tide rising dramatically and sweeping debris into flooded streets.
A telecom tower was knocked down by strong winds as the storm approached. Videos shared on social media also show rooftops and billboards flying off buildings during torrential rains in Yangon.
Images of the city of Mrauk U show palm trees bending in the wind, sheets of metal roofing drifting down the street and some people still rushing to shelter in storm shelters.
A 14-year-old boy was killed by a falling tree in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, local media reported, while buildings were damaged and collapsed in various parts of Myanmar.
