Interesting Facts About Cyclone Okchi

A devastating cyclone named Okchi hit Tamil Nadu and Kerala on November 30, 2017, what's left at least 39 people dead and hundreds missing. a large number of people were rescued by the well-coordinated efforts of Indian Navy, Air force, Indian Coast Guard and National Disaster Relief Force and other stakeholders of both the states. It was the most intense tropical Cyclone in the Arabian sea since Cyclone Megh in 2015. The ninth depression, and the third and strongest named storm of 2017 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, Okchi originated from an area of low pressure that formed on the Southwest Bay of Bengal on November 28. The impact of the tropical cyclone throughout Kerala has initially estimated at Rs 1843 crore. The southern part of Indian railways announced partial cancellation of train service between Nagercoil and Kanyakumari, Nagercoil and Thiruvananthapuram and Nagercoil and Tirunelveli, due to the heavy rain accompanied by Ockhi. There was a rapid intensification of Okchi during it's Genesis stage, as it intensified into a CS at 0830 IST of 30th, after its genesis as a depression at 0830 IST of 29th. This was the 4th cyclonic storm developing over comorin sea. However, Cyclone Okchi did not cross Tamilnadu and Kerala Coast and moved across the Lakshadweep Islands. Thus, it was a rare Cyclone with rapid intensification in Genesis stage. it intensified from deep depression into a cyclonic storm over, an area within 6 hours. Okchi had a clockwise recurving track. The track length of the cyclone was 2538 kilometer. The twelve hours average translational speed of the cyclone was 15.0 kmph. The life period of the cyclone was 162 hours against a long period average of 4.7 days of very severe cyclone storm over the North Indian ocean.

How Cyclone Ockhi Got Its Name?

The name of Okchi was given by Bangladesh which in Bengali means "eye". The world meteorological organization (WMO) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) started the tropical cyclone naming system in 2000. Tropical cyclones are named to provide ease of communication between forecasters and the general public regarding forecasts, watches, and warnings. The Cyclones worldwide are named by nine regions- North Atlantic, east or North Pacific, Central North Pacific, Western North Pacific, North Indian Ocean, South West Indian Ocean, Australian, southern Pacific, southern Atlantic. Cyclones in the North Indian ocean basin are named by the Indian meteorological department and the first tropical cyclone was named in 2004 as Onil ( given by Bangladesh). 8 North Indian ocean countries- Bangladesh, India, The Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, give eight names each which was combined into a list of 64 names. One name from each country is picked in an order to name in the cyclones. The previous storm 'Mora' that cost CBR flooding across North East India in May 2017 was named by Thailand. Mora is the name of one of the healing stones and also means star of the sea. The next cyclone will be named Sagar- a name given by India.