Tropical Cyclone Maarutha Makes Landfall in Myanmar with Flooding Rain Threat

Jonathan Belles
Published: April 16,2017

Tropical Cyclone Maarutha has made landfall in Myanmar. Heavy rainfall continues to be the main threat, which could cause flooding in that country through Monday.
Maarutha is the first named storm of the 2017 Northern Hemisphere tropical cyclone season, according to Dr. Phil Klotzbach.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said that Tropical Cyclone Maarutha had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph as of Sunday afternoon, Eastern Daylight Time. Maarutha is rapidly decaying, due to its interaction with land.
(MORE: Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones: Regional Names Explained)

Current Satellite

Tropical Cyclone Maarutha is forecast to pass north of Nay Pyi Taw, population of more than 900,000 and capital city of Myanmar, on Monday, local time.
Heavy rainfall appears to be the biggest threat into Monday, Eastern Daylight Time. This area in the northern Bay of Bengal from eastern India eastward to Myanmar is notorious for flash flooding, due to mountainous terrain. Mudslides will also be a concern.

Projected Path

In 2015, a tropical storm-strength cyclone, Cyclone Komen, hovered near the coast of Bangladesh, bringing flooding rain to six countries and killing nearly 500 people. Cyclone Komen made weeks of heavy rainfall even worse as landslides occurred in Myanmar, and more than one million people were evacuated or displaced from Myanmar alone.
(MORE: Cyclone Komen Brings Very Heavy Rainfall to Myanmar, India and Bangladesh)

Forecast Rainfall

This tropical cyclone is not expected to bring rain that heavy, nor will it move as slowly as Komen did. Both of these factors will limit excessive rainfall, but the chance of flooding is still high in portions of Myanmar.

MORE: Tropical Cyclone Hudhud, 2014

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