Cyclone ‘Mocha’ likely to intensify as very severe cyclonic storm today

The Indian Meteorological Department has said that the severe cyclonic storm ‘Mocha’ is set to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm on Friday and head to the Bangladesh-Myanmar coast.

“The SCS “Mocha” lay centered at 0230 hours IST of 12th May 2023 over Southeast adjoining Central Bay of Bengal about 520 km west-northwest of Port Blair”, the IMD tweeted in the wee hours of Friday.

The cyclone’s name ‘Mocha’ is suggested by Yemen and was named after the Red Sea port city which is known to have introduced coffee to the world.

On Thursday night, the IMD had tweeted, “Severe cyclonic storm “Mocha” lay centered at 2330 hrs IST of 11th May 2023 over southeast adjoining Central BoB near lat 12.7N, long 88.1E, about 510 km west-northwest of Port Blair, 1050 km south-southwest of Cox’s Bazar (Bangladesh) and 970 km south-southwest of Sittwe (Myanmar).”

Due to the weather conditions, northeastern states of Tripura and Mizoram are likely to get heavy rainfall from Saturday. On the other hand, Nagaland, Manipur and south Assam are expected to get rainfall on Sunday.

The National Disaster Relief Force has deployed eight teams while 200 rescuers have been put on ground and 100 rescuers are on standby.

The IMD has asked fishermen, ships, boats and trawlers not to venture into central and northeast Bay of Bengal and north Andaman Sea till Sunday. Those sailing in central Bay of Bengal and north Andaman Sea are advised to return to coast.

On Wednesday, the Indian Coast Guard had also issued a warning to the fishermen advising them not to venture into the sea. “Safety alerts are being initiated by @IndiaCoastGuard in routine air surveillance sorties around low-pressure areas of #AndamanSea. Fishermen being shepherded/ advised not to venture into #Sea & return ashore”, the Indian Coast Guard had tweeted.