Flood condition worsened in Orissa on Friday with four major rivers submerging around 600 villages in the state.
Berhampur, the biggest city in southern Odisha, on Monday looked like a war zone as Cyclone Phailin left behind a trail of destruction. The cyclone accompanied by heavy rain hit Gopalpur, about 15 km from Behrampur, and battered the city and its nearby areas.
Relief and restoration work was stepped up on Tuesday in areas ravaged by twin calamity of Cyclone Phailin and resultant floods in Odisha, which affected over 1.2 crore people in more than 16,000 villages and claimed 26 lives. Of the 26, five people died in floods.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday reviewed the post-cyclone situation and damages caused by Cyclone Yaas in the state at a meeting in Bhubaneswar where Odisha government demanded long term solutions to mitigate problems of repeated cyclones and provision of disaster resilient power systems.
Orissa government on Tuesday decided to continue air-dropping of food packets in marooned villages as part of relief and rescue operation amid slight respite from flood fury that claimed 27 lives.
The South Central Railway as well as the East Coast Railway cancelled several trains while some were terminated midway, officials said, adding a few express trains were also diverted.
The depression, which was initially over west-central Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas, moved westward and intensified into a deep depression.
The fear of an epidemic loomed large over the flood ravaged areas of Orissa, where train services remained severely affected due to damaged tracks.
The extremely severe cyclonic storm, which made landfall at Puri on Friday, unleashed copious rain and windstorm that gusted up to 200 kmph, blowing away thatched roofs of houses, swamped towns and villages, before weakening and entering West Bengal
Modi reviewed the situation in West Bengal and Odisha with chief ministers Mamata Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik, two days after the cyclone, the worst in years, devastated their states.
The state government has instructed officials in coastal districts and various departments to be alert to tackle any emergency situation
The weatherman said when 'Amphan' makes the landfall between West Bengal's Digha, some 180 km from Kolkata, and Hatiya island in Bangladesh on Wednesday afternoon or evening, it will pack sustained wind speed of 155 to 165 kmph, gusting at 185 kmph. The gale-force wind, blowing at a speed of 240 to 250 kmph and gusting to 275 kmph at one point, had lost intensity and was moving at a speed of 200 to 210 kmph, gusting to 230 kmph on Tuesday evening.
In a bid to galvanise its air defence capabilities, India on Tuesday successfully test fired a new, long range surface-to-air missile jointly developed with Israel from a defence base off Odisha coast.
Death toll due to floods in Odisha climbed to 45 and number of people affected by the deluge to over 32.9 lakh on Sunday as the situation improved gradually with receding water level in many areas.
Floods triggered by low pressure induced rains wreaked havoc in cyclone-hit Ganjam and other coastal districts of Odisha, leaving 10 persons dead and lakhs marooned as helicopters launched rescue operations on Friday.
The MeT department warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall in Gangetic West Bengal till Saturday, ahead of Durga Puja festivities.
According to the SRC, the evacuation of eight lakh people is the largest-ever evacuation operation in the country.
A powerful earthquake measuring 6.8 on the richter scale and epicentred in Myanmar on Wednesday shook several parts of east and northeast India.
Exactly a year after the very severe cyclonic storm Phailin struck the state, another storm is heading towards the Odisha coast.
The state-of-the-art advanced missile, a product of joint venture between India and Israel.
An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit Myanmar, tremors of which shook the northeast, several parts of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and even Delhi and NCR on Wednesday.
The cyclone would bring light to moderate rains at most places and 'heavy to very heavy downpour' at some places on November 6.
The metrological department on Saturday said that Phailin is a very severe 'super cyclone' and its wind speed may go up to 200 and 240 km per hour by noon itself.
BJD managed to retain 112 seats securing another term for Patnaik in the CM chair.
Cutting across party lines, chief ministers and others leaders urged the people to follow the self-imposed curfew from 7 am to 9 pm, noting that "social distancing" was key to breaking the chain of infection, as the number of coronavirus cases rose to 283 after 60 new cases were detected on Saturday, the highest so far in a day, and states like Maharashtra, Odisha and Bihar imposed partial lockdown till month end.
The Lok Sabha election will be held in 7 phases, beginning on April 11, 2019 and ending on May 19, 2019.
The storm is India's strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in 20 years.
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At least 16 people have died in flood-related incidents in Odisha, where the situation remained grim even as major rivers were receding on Saturday. Two deaths each were reported from Bhadrak, Jajpur and Nayagarh districts while in worst-hit Ganjam district it remained unchanged at six and four in Jagatsinghpur, Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra told reporters here after the situation was reviewed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The India Meteorological Department said rainfall would be accompanied by gale wind speed reaching 140 to 150 kmph and gusting to 165 kmph along and off Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coasts.
Cyclone 'Phailin', which was to make landfall two days from now, possibly near Gopalpur in Odisha and in north Andhra Pradesh, on Thursday intensified into a severe cyclonic storm travelling slightly northwest and lying about 800 km from Paradip in Odisha.
A moderate earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale on Wednesday night jolted Delhi, National Capital Region, Chennai and parts of eastern and northern India including West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to properties.
With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
Bukkapuram Nadella Yugandhar's 'formidable legacy will survive through a generation of civil servants whom he trained, nurtured, mentored and inspired with a rare combination of energy, enthusiasm and passion,' says former RBI govenor Dr Duvvuri Subbarao.
The two-day nationwide strike called by central trade unions to protest the Centre's alleged anti-worker policies evoked mixed response all over country on Tuesday.
At least 155 people have lost their lives and over 80 lakh people affected in fresh floods due to excessive rains in worst-affected Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Odisha.
With cyclone Phailin expected to make landfall in Odisha on Saturday, the state government mounted a massive operation to evacuate two lakh people from six coastal districts on Friday night
While some states like Kerala and Telangana were badly hit by the strike, the impact was partial in Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra
As the dust finally settles on the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections 2019 and Bharatiya Janata Party along with its NDA allies emerges as the clear winner, here is a list of who won in each of the 7 phases of elections.
Ten trade unions with a combined membership of 15 crore workers in public and private sector, including banks and insurance companies, are on a nationwide strike to protest against changes in the labour laws.
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