"This is our most massive deployment in any flood disaster till date. Now we have close to 1,600 personnel with 21 officers and 200 rubberised inflatable boats. We have rescued over 16,000 people to safer locations till now," the DG said.
The human toll in the floods and relentless rain across the country reached almost 200 by Thursday, even as thousands in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Odisha, West Bengal, and elsewhere were forced out of their homes into temporary shelters.
"These pictures show that at night time all goods are lying there and covered with blue sheets. The state of affairs is such that, Covid or non-Covid, we see is frightening. There could be a stampede; there could be hundreds of deaths," the Delhi HC said.
The home minister held a video conference with Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra -- Vijay Rupani and Uddhav Thackeray respectively -- and Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Praful Patel, and assured them all central help in view of the impending cyclone, an official statement said in New Delhi.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde led the nation in paying tributes to the twenty bravehearts, who died in Tuesday's chopper crash while rescuing stranded people in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.
The Delhi government has banned construction and demolition activities in the city till November 21.
Mercury hovered around 40 degrees Celsius in large parts of the country on Monday as the Indian meteorological department predicted heat wave conditions in parts of east India over the next four days and the northwest region over the next two days.
Fresh snowfall disrupted normal life in Jammu and Kashmir, where an avalanche warning was issued in five districts, higher reaches and tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh and the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand on Monday.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up state governments for failing to disburse claims to the next of kin of COVID-19 victims, and issued a show cause notice to the Andhra Pradesh chief secretary as to why contempt action be not initiated against him.
When it comes to the Congress and Wayanad, the only way the scepticism in the minds of some in Kerala may be addressed is by the Gandhi family proving that they are more than a passing caravan in town, reports Shyam G Menon.
The government is planning to airlift excavators to flood-ravaged Uttarakhand regions for clearing boulders and debris accumulated in Kedarnath.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Uttarakhand government not to force people, caught in flash floods, to walk long distances and said that they should be air lifted to safer places.
The government has decided to deploy more helicopters in Uttarakhand to rescue over 60,000 people still trapped in the rain-ravaged hill state and expedite relief operations.
Taliban militants have publicly beheaded a man for allegedly spying for the security forces in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region.
'The entire public needs to be evacuated immediately. Any day, the entire town can collapse.'
"Six bodies have been retrieved from the accident site so far. The rescue teams are still on job," an NDRF spokesperson said.
In a communication to all states and union territories, the NDMA said due to several weeks of lockdown and the closure of industrial units, it is possible that some of the operators might not have followed the established standard operating procedures.
Significantly, these 12 officers would form a major part of the team that the new army chief will inherit, observes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency.
More than 39.8 lakh people in 27 of the 33 districts in the state were affected by the deluge on Thursday.
Police used mild force to disperse the crowd and five people have been detained, officials said.
According to an order issued by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, the night curfew will also be imposed from 11 pm on January 1 to 6 am on January 2.
With the COVID-19 positivity rate touching 0.55 percent, the Delhi government has decided to re-impose night curfew from Monday, according to sources.
'The situation is especially serious in major hotspot districts or emerging hotspots like Ahmedabad and Surat (Gujarat), Thane (Maharashtra), Hyderabad (Telangana), and Chennai (Tamil Nadu),' the MHA statement said.
The flood situation remained critical in Assam, affecting over 7.35 lakh people from 1,597 villages have been inundated by the surging waters.
Authorities said it was unclear what sparked the blaze at the five-storey building in the city centre.
The order of five-day mandatory institutional quarantine was opposed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Deputy Manish Sisodia in a meeting of Delhi State Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Saturday.
According to reports from the states, several congregation participants are yet to show up before authorities.
Candidates or their agents who have received both the doses of Covid-19 vaccine can also enter the counting hall on May 2 when votes for Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu will be counted, according to the guidelines issued on Wednesday.
Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were roped in to rescue hundreds of stranded people, they said.
IMD director general Mrutunjay Mohapatra said that cyclone Asani has already achieved maximum stage of intensification and is gradually getting weakened.
The directorate of education also said that students and staff must wear masks and maintain social distancing to the extent possible.
Congress on Monday appeared to claim credit for effective handling of cyclone 'Phailin', saying all steps are being taken under its rule to make the country "disaster-resilient" which was evident from the Indian Meteorological Department's accurate prediction and "record" evacuation of over one million people in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
Nearly four lakh people have been affected across seven districts of Assam.
The deep depression in Bay of Bengal that crossed the coast close to Kakinada in East Godavari district on Tuesday morning left a trail of devastation as it brought with it a massive downpour in several districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Tope's comments came a day after the Centre asked the state to align its order with the SOPs issued by the Union health ministry.
Kejriwal will also interact with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with his counterparts including West Bengal, Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka, where the coronavirus cases are on a much higher side, on June 17.
Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag will hold a closed-door strategy meeting with senior army officials in Guwahati to review the prevailing situation in Assam where 81 people have been killed following attacks by NDFB(S) militants.
LIVE! Incessant rains: Red Alert in 5 Kerala districts
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday conducted an aerial survey of rain-ravaged areas of Uttarakhand to asses the damage which the state government has pegged at Rs 7,000 crore.
The COVID-19 positivity rate in the national capital has jumped from 0.5 per cent to 5.33 per cent in two weeks.
