Cyclone Ockhi lashing Tamil Nadu, Kerala to approach Lakshadweep archipelago in next 24 hours, says official

New Delhi: Cyclone Ockhi, lashing parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala with torrential rains and gusty winds, was approaching the Lakshadweep archipelago, a top official at the Ministry of Earth Sciences said on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_4235671” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Cyclonic Storm ‘OCKHI’ over Comorin area.Twitter@Indiametdept[/caption] Madhavan Rajeevan, secretary in the ministry, said the archipelago in the southern part of the Arabian Sea will start experiencing heavy rainfall and strong winds from tomorrow. “It will hit the islands on 2 December,” Rajeevan said. The cyclonic storm was “very likely” to move west-northwestwards towards Lakshadweep Islands and intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours, the Cyclone Warning Division of India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned. Mahesh Palawat, vice-president (meteorology and climate change) of Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, said there was a possibility of flooding in the islands due to heavy rainfall. The IMD said heavy-to-very-heavy rainfall at isolated places were “very likely” over south Tamil Nadu, south Kerala during the next 24 hours. “Rainfall will occur at most places, heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places, and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places very likely over Lakshadweep area during next 48 hours,” the IMD said. Squally wind speed reaching 55-65 kmph and gusting to 75 kmph was very likely along and around Lakshadweep Islands during the next 12 hours and may increase thereafter with wind speed becoming 80-90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph from tonight. Sea conditions would be “very rough to high” over and around Lakshadweep Islands during the next 12 hours and “high to very high” during subsequent 48 hours, the IMD added.