The Met Office has advised against crowds congregating in open areas such as for parades because of the acute instability in the atmosphere as well as the stormy activity, its director Kleanthis Nicolaides told the Cyprus News Agency on Monday.
His said this recommendation followed a thunderstorm alert that was issued earlier on Monday.
Nicolaides’ statements came after the Education Ministry said it was cancelling today’s school parades to mark Ochi Day for safety reasons and at the recommendation of the Met Office.
About an hour after that announcement, Paphos Municipality said the parade in the town was going ahead as planned as the weather was fine.
It was then announced that the Limassol parade will also go ahead, but start at 11.45 am. The parade is also going ahead in Paralimni.
The Met Office chief noted the risks posed in the event of a storm for several thousand people in an open area with loudspeakers exposed to the weather, wet flag mastsm pupils and children.
“The Met Office considered it prudent to inform the relevant authorities that this is its recommendation,” he said and noted that a young man is in critical condition after being hit by lightning in the Limassol district yesterday.
“The atmosphere has this momentum, we took it into consideration and this announcement was issued,” he said.
The yellow alert was issued this morning as storms started to roll in on the south coast of Larnaca, Storms were also recorded inland.
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https://in-cyprus.com/school-ochi-day-parades-cancelled-because-of-bad-weather/
