Cyclone Mocha floods Myanmar port city, sparing major refugee camps

A drone view shows fishermen portaging their boats to safer ground due to Cyclone Mocha, in Teknaf Marine Drive, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh May 12, 2023, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video. Arjun Jain/Rohingya Refugee Response/Handout via REUTERS

DHAKA (Reuters) -Storm surges whipped up by a powerful cyclone moving inland from the Bay of Bengal inundated the Myanmar port city of Sittwe on Saturday, but largely spared a densely-populated cluster of refugee camps in low-lying neighbouring Bangladesh.

Some 400,000 people were evacuated in Myanmar and Bangladesh ahead of Cyclone Mocha making landfall, as authorities and aid agencies scrambled to avert heavy casualties from one of the strongest storms to hit the region in recent years.