Hundreds of villages have been inundated and thousands of people stranded in Bihar after heavy rains lashed the state on Sunday. Water levels in Sone and Ganga rivers rose to alarming proportions, following the sudden release of 9.58 lakh cusecs of water from Bansagar dam in Madhya Pradesh, Rihand dam in Uttar Pradesh and Muhammadganj dam in Jharkhand.
The flood situation in Bihar remained grim on Monday with more than 10 lakh people affected and thousands forced to flee their homes and take shelter on highrise embankments, national highways, railway lines and in schools and other buildings
A strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake with the epicentre in Afghanistan shook Pakistan, killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly 250 others in both the countries, authorities said on Wednesday.
The flood situation in Bihar showed signs of improvement with major rivers maintaining a receding trend, even as four more deaths were reported from Darbhanga district, taking the total toll to 81.
The district administration has banned the sale of motor fuels without a permit from the district supply officer in order to stock reserves of petrol and diesel for vehicles to be used for flood-fighting and relief operations.
Severe cyclonic storm Michaung crossed south Andhra Pradesh coast close to Bapatla district between 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm on Tuesday with maximum gales of up to 90-100 km per hour speed, said an Amaravati Meteorological Centre official.
Since January this year, there have been 983 incidents of forest fire in the state affecting 1,292 hectares of land, they said.
The new restriction will come into effect from 8 pm on Tuesday and remain effective till 7 am on May 1.
State Disaster Management Department Principal Secretary Vyasji said in Patna that the boat, with more than 65 passengers on board, capsized near Ghoria Ghat while sailing to Bhagwanpur from Ranha village.
Rescue operations were underway in three subdivisions of Darjeeling district where multiple landslides have claimed 38 lives besides washing away highways and damaging homes.
Three more persons, including two children, died due to severe cold conditions in Uttar Pradesh, taking the toll in the state this winter to 92. The three persons, including an eight-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl, have died due to the cold in Barabanki district in the last 24 hours, officials said.Cold conditions prevailed in most parts of the state and clouds hovered in many places.Lucknow recorded a minimum temperature of 1.4 degree Celsius on Tuesday morning.
The toll in the killer nor'wester in Bihar rose to 54 as reports of 12 more deaths came from the 12 ravaged districts on Thursday.
The death toll in Bihar floods today mounted to 64 with over 33 lakh people spread across 13 districts affected by the deluge.
The very severe cyclonic storm 'Biparjoy' intensified into an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm' and is likely to cross Saurashtra-Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts around the afternoon of June 15 as a 'very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS)', the India Meteorological Department said on Sunday.
According to experts, slopes in Himachal have become highly vulnerable to landslides due to cutting of rocks at the foothills and the lack of proper drainage system, and high intensity rainfall is making the things worse for the state.
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
Chandna took to Twitter to vent out his anger. He wrote, 'Honourable chief minister, I have a personal request to you. Free me from this cruel ministerial post and give the charge of all my departments to Kuldeep Ranka ji, because anyway, he is the minister of all the departments. Thank you.'
Even as three eastern districts in Assam are reeling under flood, 14 of the 27 districts in the state are facing an unprecedented dry spell, which compelled the state government to declare those drought affected, following a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
The government declared Monday (Dec 4) a public holiday and urged private companies to encourage 'work from home' option for its employees in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts.
'I feel numb with the trauma we have been going through ever since we first got the news. For close to two weeks, we have been hearing my child will be rescued today. That today never comes'
Incessant rains lashed Uttarakhand for the second consecutive day on Monday, prompting the authorities to advise Chardham pilgrims not to proceed to the Himalayan temples till the weather improves.
State disaster management department officials said seven people lost their lives due to floods in Muzaffarpur district, while around 65,000 people of 140 villages in Muzaffarpur, Supaul, Patna, Nalanda and Saharsa districts were affected by the deluge.
The decision was taken following a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh, an official spokesperson of the Relief and Disaster Management Department of Manipur told PTI.
Four National Disaster Response Force teams are engaged in rescue work, he added. The village has around 50 houses, of which 17 were buried under the landslide, the official said.
Rajasthan's three districts -- Jalore, Sirohi and Barmer -- are reeling under a flood-like situation due to heavy rainfall caused by cyclonic storm Biparjoy, an official said on Sunday.
'Since there is no photo-op, or quick fix solutions, politicians do not want to address climate change. It is very unfashionable.'
These include home, industrial development (mining), justice, labour, excise, environment conservation and climate change, disaster management and rehabilitation and civil aviation.
Seven bodies have been recovered in the operation that continued through the night, Sachin GIDC police station inspector Jignesh Chaudhari said.
Messages sent through Internet-based messaging service providers such as Whatsapp, Signal, and Telegram, as well as those which are encrypted, are understood to be within the Act's ambit.
The severe cyclonic storm lay over the south-east Bay about 300 km west of Port Blair on Monday and had intensified into a very cyclonic storm by 1.30 am, they said. It now lay about 950 km south south-east of Paradip at 8.30 am on Tuesday. The system is likely to intensify further and move in a north-western direction.
The IMD also issued a red alert in the same 10 districts for August 3 also.
Over 500 people have perished in the current spell of floods in Bihar with fresh reports of 23 deaths from six flood-hit districts on Monday as nearly 20.5 million people continue to reel under the impact of floods in 20 districts.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a 'Red Alert' and predicted 'very heavy' to 'extremely heavy' rainfall across several districts of Assam till Thursday.
'You are talking as if Patna has been the only place which has suffered on account of heavy rain. What happened in Mumbai and America when these places were battered by similar downpour?'
Uttarakhand minister Satpal Maharaj said an inquiry will be conducted to find out how multi-storey buildings were allowed to be constructed in Joshimath which has been sinking for at least 20 years.
The Odisha government on Friday said it would prepare a memorandum to seek central assistance in the next two days for relief and restoration works in the cyclone and flood affected districts, even as the death toll in the twin calamities mounted to 44.
Floods have forced people to eat rats to survive as there is nothing left to eat. M I Khan reports from Patna.
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