Locals stand the bank of sea before Cyclone Mocha hits, in Sittwe, Rakhine State, May 13, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

DHAKA - Extremely dangerous Cyclone Mocha began crossing the Bangladesh and Myanmar coasts Sunday, a senior official of Bangladesh Meteorological Department told Xinhua.

Mocha has a diameter of more than 500 km and its impact will be felt in many areas of Bangladesh, the BMD Director Md Azizur Rahman said.

According to a special bulletin of the BMD, the cyclone, packing winds of up to 215 mph, brought destructive winds and a potentially devastating storm surge.

Cyclone Mocha will take several hours to weaken into a cyclone and then into a depression. Parts of Bangladesh are experiencing drizzle and gusty wind as an impact of the advancing cyclone

The severe cyclone will take several hours to weaken into a cyclone and then into a depression.

Parts of Bangladesh are experiencing drizzle and gusty wind as an impact of the advancing cyclone. 

TV footage showed widespread flooding in coastal Cox's Bazar this morning, where hundreds of thousands have reportedly been evacuated.

Bangladeshi State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Enamur Rahman told journalists that they have taken adequate measures to support the affected people.

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Officials said there were no report of casualty so far of the cyclone in the affected areas. 

"Saving lives is our main priority," said disaster relief official Mijanur Rahman. Bangladesh has moved about 300,000 people before the storm hit land around noon.

Aid workers are worrying about the risk to more than a million Rohingya refugees, half-a-million children among them, living in camps in the beach town of Cox's Bazar near the cyclone's path.

"People at risk are in the process of being transferred to safe shelters and we are also arranging relief packages," said Farah Kabir of ActionAid Bangladesh.

Most refugees live in makeshift dwellings in the densely-packed camps after having fled Myanmar in 2017.

At least 100,000 people in Myanmar's impoverished Rakhine state have moved to safer areas since last week, said the UN humanitarian office (OCHA).

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About 6 million people are already in need of humanitarian assistance and 1.2 million are displaced in Rakhine and the northwest, OCHA said.