Cyclone Mocha reaches top hurricane category: US weather centre

Cyclone Mocha intensified into the equivalent of a category 5 hurricane as it barrelled through the Bay of Bengal towards Myanmar and Bangladesh, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Centre said on Sunday.

The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 knots (259 km/h), the centre said in a forecast update, equivalent to a category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind scale.