Journalism of Courage
Having displaced hundreds of people in Lakshadweep, Kerala and Tamil Nadu during the last four days, Cyclone Ockhi is progressing north and will be making a landfall over Maharashtra and south Gujarat by Tuesday. Cloudy skies and light rain have been forecast for three days for Pune. The coastal districts of Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Thane, Mumbai and a few adjoining locations in north Maharashtra will experience heavy clouds and rainfall during the next two to three days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. In its cyclone warning issued on Sunday, IMD warned of squally winds of speed ranging 50-60 km/hr.
“The cyclone has crossed Lakshadweep, the model indications show it inching eastwards towards north Maharashtra and south Gujarat in the next 48 hours,” said D S Pai, head, climate prediction at climate research division at the IMD told The Indian Express. After hundreds of fishermen went missing last week and approximately 20 of them died, the fishermen in both the states have been warned against venturing into the sea, as the conditions are expected to continue to remain rough. After the cyclone crosses over Lakshadweep and enters the ocean again, it will gain momentum even as it recurves over to Maharashtra-Gujarat coast.
“23 boats identified to belong to Tamil Nadu, 3 from Kerala and 2 from Karnataka docked at Mirya Bunder, Ratnagiri. All are safe now and officials are looking after them with utmost care,” read the CM tweet. Earlier on Saturday, 68 boats, mostly from Kerala, carrying nearly 952 fishermen, had sailed over Sindhudurg after they went missing, following the intensification of cyclone Ockhi on Thursday. Due to this, the Met department has hinted at skies to remain cloudy with occasional isolated rainfall activity to prevail over Pune and adjoining areas in Madhya Maharashtra and Konkan until Wednesday.
Climatological data for a period of over 150 years with the IMD suggests that the Arabian Sea is not “as much” active as the Bay of Bengal, where most storm hitting the Indian mainland originate. “Even cyclone Ockhi developed by the Bay, but, in the due course, changed its track towards the west coast before entering the Arabian Sea. It is rare to have a storm of such intensity in the Arabian Sea,” said a senior IMD scientist.
