At least 80 fishermen and 50 boats have gone missing after cyclone Ockhi lashed the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu and Kerala with torrential rainfall and gusty winds.
The cyclone has so far claimed the lives of four people in Kerala.
On Thursday, a man in an autorickshaw died in Kollam after a tree fell on the three-wheeler, two others were electrocuted in Trivandrum and a woman died after a tree fell on her house in Vizhinjam due to the cyclone.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has already issued an alert of heavy to very heavy rainfall in both the states.
The depression in Southwest Bay of Bengal had snowballed into the cyclonic storm- Ockhi.
Schools in seven districts of Tamil Nadu, including Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Virudhunagar remained closed.
The deadly storm has killed seven people in neighbouring Sri Lanka and affected the lives of nearly 20,000 people.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)