#CycloneOckhi: Taking stock of damage, Sitharaman says ‘all fishermen will return home safely’
Thiruvananthapuram, December 4: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took note of the situation after cyclone Ockhi rocked south India. Sitharaman met the affected families of fishermen at Vizhinjam, Thiruvananthapuram and assured that search and rescue operations by Indian Navy, Coastguard & Airforce will continue with full vigour.
To take stock of the situation, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and addressed the fishermen community at the St Thomas Church, assuring that Indian Navy, Coast Guard & Air Force will carry out search & rescue operation with full determination to ensure all fishermen affected by #CycloneOckhi return home safely.
While the threat of ‘Cyclone Ockhi’ is raising the levels amongst people, IMD forecasted that Ockhi will move towards Maharashtra and Gujarat in the next 48 hours. Cyclone has moved away from Lakshadweep while in its first tropical storm created a ruckus in coasts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu where at least 19 people got killed.
Cyclone Ockhi is the first tropical storm of the season that created havoc in the southern states of India. Many districts in South Kerala, Tamil Nadu and island group in the Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep has faced the ramshackle conditions.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited Kanyakumari on Sunday also to review rescue operations in cyclone-affected regions. Over all 690 fishermen stranded at sea off Kerala coast have been rescued in combined operations carried out by the Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force. A total of 6,581 persons have been shifted to various relief camps in the state. The very severe cyclonic storm Ockhi lay centred over east central and south east central Arabian Sea.
As of 3 December, Ockhi was located 910 kilometres south-southwest of Mumbai and 1,120 kilometres south-southwest of Surat, according to the IMD. As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), it is very likely to cross south Gujarat and north Maharashtra coasts near Surat and develop into a deep depression by 5 December midnight.