Danger signal No. 7 for Chittagong, Cox's Bazar as Cyclone Mora moves in

Cyclone Mora has moved further north to within 450km of the Bangladesh coast, prompting the Met office to advise danger signal No. 7 for ports in Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar.

Coastal districts of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Noakhali, Lakshmipur, Feni, Chandpur and their offshore islands will be covered by the signal.

The Mongla and Payra ports have been asked to hoist danger signal No. 5, which will be effective for the districts of Bhola, Borguna, Patuakhali, Barisal, Pirozpur, Jhalokathi, Bagherhat, Khulna, Satkhira and their offshore islands.

Bangladesh Meteorological Department Director Shamsuddin Ahmed told bdnews24.com that the cyclone might move further north and cross the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar coast early Tuesday.

Image: India Meteorological Department

The very warm waters of the Bay caused the tropical low to develop into a depression on Sunday morning. By afternoon it had been upgraded to a deep depression and then Cyclonic Storm Mora formed by early Monday morning.

According the latest weather bulletin, the cyclone at 9am was centred about 445km south-southwest of Cox's Bazar, 530km of Chittagong port, 580 km south-southeast of Mongla port and 510 km south-southeast of Payra Port.

It's likely to intensify further and move in a northerly direction. Maximum sustained wind speed within 54 km of the cyclone centre is about 62 km per hour rising to 88 km per hour in gusts.

The Bangladesh Met office said sea will remain very rough and advised all fishing boats, trawlers over North Bay and deep sea to remain in shelter.

It said the cyclone may cause inundation of low-lying areas of Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur, Borguna, Bhola, Patuakhali, Barisal, Pirozpur, Jhalokathi, Bagherhat, Khulna, Satkhira and their offshore islands as a four to five feet high sea surge was expected during the storm.

Image: Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.

The coastal districts may see wind speed between 62 and 88 km per hour in gusts with heavy rainfalls when the cyclone crosses the coast.

In the 12 hours after the deep depression turned into Cyclone Mora, it has moved 100km towards the Bangladesh coast. It travelled another 45km towards the coast in three hours from 6am on Monday.

Meteorologists at AccuWeather expect additional strengthening of the cyclone before landfall due to favourable environmental conditions.

Mora may turn into a severe cyclonic storm (equivalent of strong tropical storm or Category 1 hurricane) by Monday afternoon, the weather media reports.

Image: AccuWeather

It said the strength of the damaging winds will be dependent on the strength of the storm at landfall, but wind gusts past 125 km per hour appear likely late Monday and Tuesday.

“Rainfall over 150 mm (6 inches) and flooding will be major concerns for Bangladesh," the AccuWeather report quoted its Meteorologist Jason Nicholls saying. "The main threat area for landfall continues to be centred around Bangladesh with landfall expected late on Monday night or Tuesday, local time."

Bangladesh Metereologist Bazlur Rashid told bdnews24.com that they had advised cautionary signal No. 2 as soon as the low turned into a cyclone. It was raised to local cautionary signal No. 4 at 6am on Monday and upgraded to a danger signal at 9am.