A massive cyclone has slammed the shores of Bangladesh and Myanmar after strengthening into a category-five storm.
Cyclone Mocha did not make landfall in the enormous Cox's Bazar refugee camp, as had been predicted, but it did tear apart hundreds of improvised shelters.
In Myanmar, at least six people have been killed.
According to locals, up to 90% of western Rakhine state's capital city Sittwe has been devastated.
The storm had largely passed by late Sunday. According to Kamrul Hasan, a disaster officer in Bangladesh, the cyclone caused "no major damage," but landslides and floods continue to strike the country. So yet, no deaths have been recorded in Bangladesh.
With the storm destroying homes and downing power lines in Rakhine state, Myanmar looks to have been more directly affected. The meteorological bureau of Myanmar said that it moved through the nation at a speed of roughly 209 km/h (130 mph).
Additionally, the state's Rohingya refugee camps have been destroyed.
One of those reported deceased, a 14-year-old kid, was killed in the state by a falling tree, according to local media.
In several parts of Sittwe, the electricity and wifi connectivity were disrupted. Amid torrential rain over the area, footage posted online showed billboards falling off buildings, telecom towers being knocked down, and roofs being blown off houses.
Rakhine State has been deemed a natural disaster region by the authorities, and the Myanmar Red Cross Society has stated that it is "getting ready for a major emergency response."
750,000 people were evacuated by Bangladeshi authorities before the storm.
The storm strengthened, the sky darkened, the winds sped up, and the rain pelted down, leaving the streets of Cox's Bazar deserted.
In a classroom that had been converted into a makeshift cyclone shelter, hundreds of people were crowded.
Mothers with small children, old people, and the weak crammed themselves into every available space in the classrooms, sleeping on desks and sitting under them.
Many people arrived at the shelter on foot and in rickshaws, bringing their animals, including cattle, chickens, and goats, as well as mats for sleeping.
They had made a challenging decision to go from fishing and seaside settlements up to two hours distant.
Sumi Akter, who resides near a riverside, stated, "I didn't want to leave my house."
Sumi and other people we met here claim to have seen recent cyclones firsthand and are used to routinely leaving their houses to the whims of nature.
Low-lying settlements could be inundated by storm surges up to four meters high. Sumi and other people in this place worry that their homes could be flooded.
She added, "I wish the houses we lived in were constructed more solidly.
We had met Jannat, a 17-year-old, the day before at the same shelter, and she revealed that she shared our fear for what would happen to her riverside home.
Her home was wrecked by the storm Sitrang last year, forcing her to spend what little money she had on repairs.
How am I going to survive if this continues happening? We are so impoverished that I can't afford to rebuild it, she remarked.
The underprivileged at the neighboring biggest refugee camp in the world were also being punished by nature.
The government of Bangladesh forbids Rohingya refugees from setting up permanent constructions or leaving the camps.
They took cover in rickety bamboo shelters with tarpaulin roofs as the typhoon approached. Some were transferred to communal shelters inside the camps, but these provided only marginally better security.
More than 1,300 shelters, as well as 16 mosques and educational facilities, were destroyed by the wind, authorities informed the BBC. In addition to two landslides that caused minor damage, trees had fallen on the campgrounds.
Mohammed Ayub's shelter's tarpaulin was ripped off by the wind. His eight-person family is currently living outside in the gloomy, rainy weather.
Mohammed was happy that the camps were spared a direct impact from Cyclone Mocha after spending the days prior in fear of what it may bring.
As far as he was aware, there were no cyclone-related deaths in the camps, according to Mizanur Rahman of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner.
Cyclone Mocha, according to forecasters, might be Bangladesh's strongest cyclone in over two decades.
According to the Bangladeshi meteorological authority, the greatest continuous wind speed within 75 kilometers (45 miles) of the cyclone's center was around 195 kilometers per hour (120 mph), with gusts and squalls reaching 215 kilometers per hour.
Airports in the vicinity had been closed in anticipation of the storm, fishermen had been told to stop working, and 1,500 shelters had been built up as residents of at-risk locations were relocated to safer areas.
Nearly 140,000 people were killed and millions more were seriously impacted when Cyclone Nargis tore through Myanmar's southern coastal districts in 2008. A 3.5-meter water wall that struck the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta killed the majority of people who perished.