The road to the city was littered with trees, pylons and power cables, AFP correspondents said, with vehicles full of rescuers and locals trying to reach the town and their relatives forming queues.
“We drove all the way through the cyclone yesterday and cut trees and pushed away pylons … but then the big trees blocked the road,” an ambulance driver trying to reach Sittwe told AFP.
He and others were using a chainsaw to cut through branches of trees blocking the road.
Junta-affiliated media reported that the storm had put hundreds of base stations that connect mobile phones to networks out of action in Rakhine state.
“I want to go home as fast as I can because we don’t know the situation in Sittwe,” a man from the town told AFP, requesting anonymity.
“There is no phone line, there is no internet … I’m worried for my home and belongings.”
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing had “instructed officials to make preparations for Sittwe Airport transport relief”, state media reported on Monday, without giving details on when relief was expected to arrive.
In 2008, Cyclone Nargis swept across parts of Myanmar with winds of 240kmh, killing nearly 140,000 people.
Since a junta toppled a democratically elected government two years ago, Myanmar has been plunged into chaos and a resistance movement is fighting the military on various fronts following a crackdown on protests.
A junta spokesperson did not immediately answer a telephone call from Reuters seeking comment.
The military has imposed internet shutdowns across parts of the country, including some areas in Rakhine and neighbouring Chin state, which was also in Cyclone Mocha’s path.
“There is significant overlap between the shutdown areas and the cyclone’s path, which is a major concern, as it’s hindering efforts to reach people,” said digital rights activist Htaike Htaike Aung.
In remote and hilly Chin, which has previously seen heavy fighting between the junta and the resistance, the areas the storm swept through is under a communications blackout since the coup, the Chin Human Rights Organization said.
“We have not yet been able to establish the extent of the devastation,” said the group’s deputy director Salai Za Uk Ling. “The storm itself is a trigger for more problems as heavy rains continue and landslides and flooding tend to follow.”