Mocha turns into super cyclone

Mocha has intensified into a super cyclonic storm over east central Bay of Bengal and was 500km away of Cox’s Bazar coast.

Cyclone and storm live tracking websites Zoom.Earth and Windy.com reported on Saturday (May 13).

According to windy.com, around 8:00 pm (Bangladesh time), the extremely severe cyclone Mocha turned into a a super cyclonic storm. At the moment, the wind speed at the center of the cyclone was 240 km per hour.

If the wind speed caused by a cyclone is 62 to 88 kilometers per hour, it is called a cyclone or tropical cyclone. 

If the velocity is 89-117 kmph, it is called a severe cyclone or a ‘severe cyclonic storm’. When the wind speed is 118 to 219 kilometers per hour, then it is called hurricane speed cyclone or ‘very severe cyclonic storm’. When the speed is 220 km or more, it is called ‘Super Cyclone’.

According to data of Zoom.Earth, the cyclone is located about 500 km from the Bangladesh coast.

Earlier on November 15, 2007, Super Cyclone Sidr hit the coastal districts of Bangladesh with wind of 260 kilometers per hour. However, at that time, the wind speed was increasing up to 305 km per hour. Sidr’s impact caused tidal surges of 15 to 20 feet on the coast.