© Photo courtesy: www.cyclocane.com
The storm made landfall on the coast between Cox's Bazar and the main port city of Chittagong.
Cyclone Mora made landfall in Bangladesh today damaging several houses and packing winds of up to 117 kilometres per hour after authorities evacuated hundreds of thousands of people from the coastal areas.
In a special bulletin, Bangladesh Meteorological Department said the severe cyclonic storm 'Mora' moved northwards over North Bay and started crossing Cox's Bazar- Chittagong coast at 6:00 AM (local time). It is likely to move in a northerly direction further, it said.
Under its influence, gusty or squally wind with rain or thundershowers were continuing over North Bay and the coastal districts and maritime ports of Bangladesh., the
Daily Star reported.
Maximum sustained wind speed within 64 km of the cyclone centre was about 89 kph rising to 117 kph in gusts or squalls, it said.
As many as 300,000 people had been taken to shelters in more than ten districts most vulnerable to the cyclone, Additional Secretary Golam Mostafa, a spokesman for the disaster management ministry's control room, was quoted as saying by B D News.
"The people were moved out to at least 400 cyclone shelters or safer places like schools and government offices in the coastal areas," a disaster management ministry spokesman said.
At least 2.5 million people in ten districts risk falling in the way of the severe cyclonic storm.
Comment: On Saturday a large geomagnetic solar storm visible over the Vancouver area created a stunning opportunity for stargazers and photographers to catch a rare glimpse of the aurora borealis (northern lights).
"As Earth passed through the CME's wake, energetic particles poured through a crack in Earth's magnetosphere, sparking strong G3-class geomagnetic storms and bright auroras," reported SpaceWeather.com.
During the celestial event, the lights could be seen as far south as California and Arizona, and as far east as Ontario and Cape Cod, with shades of pink, purple and green lighting up the skies.