Mumbai Braces for Cyclone Ockhi, Schools to Remain Shut Today

Mumbai: Schools in Mumbai and adjoining districts will remain closed on Tuesday as a precaution after the Met department predicted heavy rain and thunderstorms from Monday night as Cyclone Ockhi heads to the country’s west coast.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Ockhi was 590 km from southwest of Mumbai and 770 km from south-southwest of Surat on Monday afternoon. It is expected to make landfall in coastal Gujarat by Tuesday midnight with squally winds, which may cause heavy rains along the coastline for the next two days.

Maharashtra minister Vinod Tawde announced that schools in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Sindhudurga, Ratnagiri, Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts due to “serious weather predictions”.

The disaster management unit of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has issued an advisory against visiting beaches in view of the high tide alert. Along with Maharashtra, fishermen in Goa and Karnataka have also been warned against venturing out into the sea.

IMD’s director general KJ Ramesh said heavy rainfall warning has been issued for Gujarat as well. Following the IMD prediction, Gujarat chief secretary J N Singh took stock of the administrative preparedness to deal with any eventuality.

Two National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams each have been deployed at Surat, Navsari, and Rajkot. The officer said the Army, Navy, and the Border Security Force (BSF) have been alerted in the view of the cyclone's landfall.

According to the IMD forecast, wind velocity would remain between 50 KMPH to 70 KMPH when the cyclone would make landfall.

The scale of the cyclone has been reduced from ‘very severe’ on Sunday to ‘severe’, the weather department said. Ockhi has laid waste to large parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala last week. The death toll in the two states has risen to 25 and close to a 100 persons are still missing.