Schools were closed across Sri Lanka on Friday due to high air pollution levels as a cyclonic storm passed by its coast, raising strong winds and rain, with forecasts that it will make landfall on India's southeastern coast around midnight.
Authorities deployed nearly 400 disaster relief personnel in Tamil Nadu state, and urged people to stock up on essentials and be prepared to move to shelters as cyclone 'Mandous' approached.
The sky turned cloudy with sporadic rain in Sri Lanka's commercial capital Colombo and other cities as the cyclone pulled pollution from neighbouring India, prompting health authorities to advise that children and elderly to remain indoors.
