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Western Myanmar is being battered by strong winds and heavy rain after Cyclone Mocha made landfall on the Bay of Bengal coastline Sunday.
The cyclone brought wind speeds of over 200 kilometers per hour (195 mph), blowing roofs off buildings and bringing down powerlines, video footage showed
Trees have been uprooted and a telecommunications tower was left crumpled, according to local news organization The Irrawaddy.
The cyclone has pushed almost entirely inland over Myanmar and continues to rapidly weaken although it is still bringing strong winds and heavy rain to the country.
Mocha is expected to dissipate over northern Myanmar Monday night into Tuesday morning local time.
“Most” people in the city of Sittwe have left for smaller regional villages or taken shelter in Sittwe’s monasteries, the UN says.
The region is home to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting, the UN says.
There is particular concern over the one million Rohingya and other Muslim minorities from Myanmar who live in refugee camps outside of Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh.
