Cyclone Nargis, known as the ‘‘Myanmar Cyclone’’
developed on April 27 in the central
area of the Bay of Bengal. It tracked slowly
north-northwestward initially and moved eastnortheastward
while developing after April 29
(Fig. 1). On May 2, Nargis attained its peak intensity
of a weak Category 4 cyclone. The cyclone
made landfall in southern Myanmar around 09–12
UTC May 2 and passed near the major city of
Yangon.
Southern part of Myanmar was severely damaged
by a storm surge caused by Nargis. As depicted
in the Terra SAR-X microwave image (Fig.
2), the storm surge flooded wide areas in the Aeyawaddy
and Yangon Divisions of Myanmar. The
most severe damage was at river mouths facing the
Andaman Sea, as in the Irrawaddy and Yangon
deltas. More detailed descriptions of Nargis’ characteristics,
including the TRMM/TMI satellite imagery
are given in Part 1.