Storm Mocha: ‘Very severe’ cyclone heading towards Bangladesh could wipe out world’s largest refugee camp
Authorities are preparing to rescue hundreds of thousands of people ahead of a “very severe” tropical cyclone on course to hit the biggest refugee camp in the world.
Storm Mocha is expected to unleash violent winds surpassing 110mph and trigger flash floods and potential landslides when it is set to make landfall in Bangladesh on Sunday.
The cyclone was on Friday deemed “very dangerous” by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), while warnings a storm surge of up to 2.5m (8.2ft) is likely to inundate parts of Bangladesh as well as low-lying areas of neighbouring Myanmar.
Although a direct hit is not expected, Storm Mocha’s path is set to impact Bangladesh’s southeastern border district, Cox’s Bazar, home to a million Rohingya refugees.
Just weeks earlier in March, thousands of people were left homeless after a huge blaze broke out in Cox’s Bazar.
Claire Nullis from the WMO told a news briefing in Geneva: “It’s a very dangerous cyclone and… it’s associated with violent winds.”
“There will be major impacts both ahead and after landfall for potentially hundreds of thousands of the world’s most vulnerable people,” she added.
India’s Meteorological Department earlier classed Storm Mocha as “very severe” – and said on Friday afternoon the weather system is “very likely to intensify further into an extremely severe cyclonic storm” overnight.
On Friday afternoon, Storm Mocha was mapped around 600 miles (1,000km) southwest of Cox’s Bazar and 580 miles (930km) southwest of Sittwe in Myanmar, according to India’s Meteorological Department.
Storm Mocha intensifies in a satellite image by the Indian Meteorological Department. Pic: AP
The evacuation involving half a million people is expected to begin on Saturday, with almost 600 cyclone shelters assembled to provide refuge to those who have followed advice to avoid coastal areas.
“The cyclone is severe and will likely affect millions of fishers and coastal communities in Bangladesh and Myanmar,” said Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, a senior scientist at the Indian Meteorological Department.
The UK Met Office described Storm Mocha as “very severe”, tweeting a picture of the extreme weather system as it turns north across the central Bay of Bengal.
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Fishermen and ships have also been advised not to venture into the southeastern Bay of Bengal and northern Andaman Sea.
Heavy downpours are also expected over the Andaman and Nicobar islands together with parts of India’s remote southeast.
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June 2022: Floods in Bangladesh wreak havoc
Many were left displaced after floods in Bangladesh last year. Pic: AP
The extreme weather system is set to arrive less than a year after dozens were killed and millions of homes were submerged by devastating floods in northeastern India and Bangladesh last June.
Months later in October, Tropical Storm Sitrang claimed the lives of at least 24 people in Bangladesh, leaving around eight million people without power.
Experts say climate change is ramping up the frequency, ferocity and unpredictability of floods in Bangladesh.
The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.
European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.
Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.
Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.
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Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20
The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.
One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.
Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters
“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”
Pic: AP
On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.
Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.
“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.
“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.
“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Pic: AP
Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.
Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.
There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.
But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.
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