Cyclone Ockhi: It is affecting Gujarat election campaigns

The cyclone, which struck southern Tamil Nadu and Kerala on November 30, has ravaged a large part of coastal areas. Rains driven by Cyclone Ochki lashed most parts of coastal Konkan in Maharashtra, including Mumbai, as the state remained wary of a potential fallout of the stormy weather on Tuesday.

Ochki is expected to make landfall near the diamond and textile city of Surat in Gujarat later on Tuesday. Reportedly, election rallies to be addressed by BJP chief Amit Shah in Rajula, Mahuva and Sihor have also been cancelled due to the cyclone.

A meteorological department bulletin on Sunday said Cyclone Ockhi had moved further north-north-westwards at a speed of 12kmph and lay centred at about 440 km west-north-west of Amindivi (Lakshadweep), 870 km south-south-west of Mumbai and 1,070 km south-south-west of Surat.

What is Ockhi?

Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Ockhi is the third and strongest storm of the 2017 North Indian Ocean cyclone season. It is an active tropical cyclone currently threatening and impacting India and is the most intense to traverse the Arabian Sea since Cyclone Megh in 2015.

Ockhi originated from an area of disturbed weather near Sri Lanka on November 29.

Proximity to land initially prevented significant strengthening, favourable conditions as it entered the Arabian Sea allowed it to quickly strengthen on December 1.

After causing damages to property and life on Sri Lanka, Ockhi headed towards Lakshadweep and mainland India, with Gujarat likely to be affected at the cyclone's end-stages.

Meteorological history of Ockhi

On November 20, the remnant energy of Tropical Storm Kirogi led to the formation of a new low-pressure area over the Gulf of Thailand. Over the next several days, the system moved into the Bay of Bengal and slowly drifted westward, but the storm was unable to organise significantly due to unfavourable conditions.

On November 29, the storm organized into a depression just off the south-eastern coast of Sri Lanka, and the India Meteorological Department gave the storm the identifier BOB 07. Due to the storm's rapidly consolidating low-level circulation center, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert on the system, shortly before classifying it as Tropical Cyclone 03B on the 29 November.

The IMD followed suit, upgrading the storm to a Deep Depression, and soon afterwards to Cyclonic Storm Ockhi. The storm tracked along Sri Lanka's southwestern and western coastline, towards the west-northwest, around the southern periphery of a subtropical ridge located over India.

Owing to highly favourable conditions, the storm displayed a thick convective ring, surrounding a well-defined eye feature on the same day.The storm tracked westwards and intensified further into a Severe Cyclone Storm, early on December 1.

Soon afterwards, Ockhi intensified further into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm. As Ockhi moved further into the Arabian Sea, it traversed an area of sea surface temperatures of 31° C (89° F) and decreasing wind shear; a 23 mi (37 km) eye became visible on satellite imagery, prompting the JTWC to upgrade it to a Category 3-equivalent cyclone early on December 2.

On 4 December, the analysis showed that Ockhi was maintaining a source aloft, but restricted outflow on the western edge due to a deepening trough advancing rapidly from the west. Increasing vertical wind shear along with a deep layered subtropical ridge to the east steered it to north-northeast and dry air intrusion from the west gradually weakened the system.

How Ockhi affected the states

1. Kerala

The death toll in Kerala rose to 19 even as more than 600 fishermen, stranded at sea off the state's coast, were rescued, official sources said on Sunday. According to the sources, 690 fishermen have been rescued in combined operations carried out by the Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force. Ninety-six fishermen are still missing, they said.

Sixty-three houses have been fully damaged and 74 partially. A total of 6581 persons have been shifted to various relief camps in the state, reported TOI.

2. Tamil Nadu

The Tamil Nadu government on Monday said a total of 2,604 fishermen out of the 2,864 caught in the cyclone Ockhi have been rescued and search for the remaining 260 is on.

In a statement issued here, the state government said 2,604 fishermen were rescued from the sea after they were caught in the cyclone Ockhi and the search operations were continuing for the remaining 260 fishermen.

According to the government, 220 fishermen from Kanyakumari district were rescued out of 294 who went missing due to cyclone while fishing.

In addition, 2,384 fishermen and their 205 boats were rescued out of the 2,570 fishermen who had sailed in 284 boats from other places in the state, the statement said.

The government said search operations were being carried out to locate and rescue the remaining fishermen and their boats.

Goa

Several dozen shacks have reportedly been affected by Sunday night's swelling of waters along the coastline, due to the twin impact of Ochki cyclone and the super moon.

Several videos of sea water creeping dangerously close to beach shacks and shack workers scurrying to salvage their beach beds and other sundry equipment were also uploaded to social media on Monday, triggering panic among the tourism and travel industry stakeholders.

The most damage was reported in the coastal sub-district of Pernem, where nearly 30 shacks were damaged due to the extreme natural phenomena.

Meanwhile, the North Goa district administration on Monday carried out a preliminary assessment of the damage caused in Pernem and Bardez sub-districts due to the sea ingress due to high tide levels.

While swimming has been banned at Goa's beaches, fishermen have also been asked not to venture into the sea for the next three days.

3. Maharashtra

After a heavily overcast day on Monday, Mumbai and surrounding districts had intermittent rainfall since dusk which continued, slowing down road traffic but the lifeline of the city, the local trains continued unhindered.

The state government, as a precautionary measure, has declared a holiday for all schools here on Tuesday and in the coastal districts of Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.

Continuing to remain dark and heavily overcast, Mumbai and its surrounding districts experienced almost continuous rain with bouts of heavy showers since Monday evening.

It has slowed down the road traffic during the morning peak hours.

However, all incoming and outgoing flights at Mumbai Airport are being operated on schedule and the city's lifeline, the suburban local trains, continue to ply unhindered.

The IMD has forecast rains with thundershowers in and around Mumbai with squalls reaching 50-60 kmph and touching 70 kmph in the coastal areas over the next 24 hours, even as the minimum temperature in Mumbai dropped to 20 degrees Celsius.

On Tuesday, the Arabian Sea recorded a high tide of 5.04 metres and on Wednesday it will be 5.05 metres, gradually receding to 4.17 metres by Thursday, said a BMC official.

All the BMC disaster units, Mumbai Police, Fire Brigade, the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Home Guards and other agencies are in full preparedness for any eventuality arising due to the cyclone.

with inputs from IANS