On November 29, 2017 a depression off the south-western coast of Sri Lanka developed into Cyclone Ockhi and later then travelled up to northwestern India. The storm intensified rapidly from a depression to a cyclone in 9 hours, a process that usually takes 24 hours for October-December cyclones. Then it intensified into a Very Severe Cyclone in 24 hours, according to the India Meteorological Department Intensity Scale. This is the second-highest rating on the IMD scale with wind speeds of 155-165 km/h which would correspond with a Category 2 on the Saffir Simpson scale. Additionally, the cyclone travelled 2,539km, longer than expected.
On November 29, my sister and I were home alone while both my parents were gone at dinner when there was a bad thunderstorm. The rain blew inside sideways and my sister and I had to close the windows. The electricity cut out and my sister and I congregated in the dining room to do our homework using candles and flashlights. We tried to stop the screen door from blowing open by propping a chair next to it but the wind just pushed the chair as well. My mom recalls driving back from dinner having to take friends home because there were no taxis or Ubers available, the roads were empty and there were branches blown down onto the road. We had no idea it was a cyclone at the time and only learnt that it was the next morning when we found out school was cancelled. They were not sure if people would be able to come to school due to some flooding and blocked roads. However, my school's system for informing us that school was cancelled was not set up properly and we were only officially notified after most people drove to school and then got turned away.
India and particularly the Lakshadweep islands were impacted the most by the cyclone. The cyclone caused 365 fatalities. In Sri Lanka, there were at least 13 people killed and approximately 700 houses were destroyed. I was in a suburb of Colombo that was not affected as much as areas further south on the western coast, such as Galle and Matara. In the aftermath, people were upset about there being a lack of warning from the Meteorology Department of Sri Lanka prior to the storm. Despite international reports on November 26 and 27 of a possible storm threat for Sri Lanka, the Meteorology Department dismissed warnings of adverse weather, citing that there was not enough evidence.
Aftermath of Cyclone Ochki in Colombo
Sources:
“After the Storm! - Caption Story | Daily Mirror.” Daily Mirror, 30 Nov. 2017, https://www.dailymirror.lk/caption_story/After-the-storm/110-141397.
Kanakarathna, Thilanka. “Foreign Reports of SL Storm Threat Not True: Met.” Daily Mirror, 28 Nov. 2017, https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Foreign-reports-of-SL-storm-threat- not-true-Met/108-141208.
“Matara Cyclone in 2017.” Disaster Services, https://disaster.lk/matara-cyclone-in-2017/.
Singh, Vineet Kumar, et al. “The Unusual Long Track and Rapid Intensification of Very Severe Cyclone Ockhi.” CURRENT SCIENCE, vol. 119, no. 5, 2020, p. 9. https://doi.org/10.18520/cs/v119/i5/771-779.
Sinha, Amitabh. “A Cyclone Called Ockhi — Why This Is Raising Such an Unusual Storm.” The Indian Express, 15 July 2021, https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/a-cyclone-called-ockhi-why-this-is-raising-such-an-unusual-storm-4966455/.
Alex,
ReplyDeleteYour blog post has a strong balance of informative statistics and personal experience. Thank you for sharing with us. It is both scary and concerning that your family wasn't aware that what seemed to be a severe thunderstorm was actually a cyclone until afterwards. 2017 isn't that long ago. I wonder if warning systems have developed and become more effective in the years since.