With incessant rains and the hot sun adding to the miseries of quake victims in Nepal, India on Thursday rushed 8,450 tents to its disaster-struck eastern neighbour.
Amid downpour, while rescue personnel, including the local civil police hastened to pull out the injured men and women from the aircraft that broke into two big chunks with a deafening sound, passengers were stunned to even comprehend what had happened in a matter of moments.
A 13.2 MW small hydro project on the Rishiganga river was swept away in the glacier burst in Uttarakhand on Sunday, but there is no danger of floods in the downstream areas as the water level has been contained.
A Red alert, indicating heavy to very heavy rains of over 20 cm in 24 hours, has been sounded for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathnamthitta and Alappuzha districts on December 3, while Orange alert (6 cm to 20 cm rains)for Kottayam, Ernakulam and Idukki districts the same day.
The cyclonic depression may have crossed the Tamil Nadu coast on Thursday evening, but the state continues to be battered by heavy rains.
There were no immediate reports of any loss of life or damage to property.
Ten teams of the NDRF have begun full-fledged relief and rescue operations on the third day of the disaster in quake-hit Nepal.
'Joro shoro se rescue operation chal raha hai.'
The massive flood in the Dhauli Ganga river triggered by a glacial burst in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Sunday came as a grim reminder of the Kedarnath deluge of 2013 which led to widespread devastation in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region.
Fresh images from satellite has shown that the effective area under fire in Uttarakhand has come down to 110-115 locations from the earlier about 427
The CISF has said it was the 'first responder' to rescue passengers on Friday as its Assistant Sub Inspector Ajit Singh was on runway patrol when the Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people on board overshot the table top runway, fell into a 35-foot valley and broke into two.
The West Bengal government on Saturday sought support of the Indian Army, railways and port for restoring essential infrastructure and services in the cyclone-ravaged areas of the state. It also urged private entities to provide manpower and equipment for the purpose.
The SDMA said the ill-fated private boat was carrying 73 passengers, including eight crew.
The Indian Army has been called for rescue operation and four people have been rescued till now.
According to an official, two fresh deaths have been reported in Cuttack and Khurda districts of the state.
Subsequently, Nivar weakened into a cyclonic storm and further into a deep depression, centered about 50 km west-southwest of Tirupati at 1430 hrs, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said. According to IMD, it is to weaken into a depression during the next six hours.
"I'm not doing any favour. I'm giving back to my country."
The rescue operations, which were halted late Tuesday night, resumed on Wednesday morning and two more bodies were retrieved from the canal, which is part of the Bansagar dam project, Sidhi's Additional Superintendent of Police Anjulata Patle said.
Fifteen people perished in floods triggered by heavy rains in Punjab and Haryana even as a fresh breach occurred in Satluj Yamuna Link at Udhar Singh village in Kuruskhetra submerging several adjoining areas.
'The prime minister expressed concern and assured all possible help to the state,' CMO said.
As many as 48 persons were injured in these incidents and 25 still missing, while so far, 2,29,074 persons have been evacuated from the flood and rain-affected affected areas and moved to safer places, the government said in a statement in Mumbai.
Cyclone Vayu was to hit the Gujarat coast on Thursday, but it changed course on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
Modi called for timely evacuation of those involved in off-shore activities.
'Coordination between our 50 teams, each with a strength of 45 men, played a key role in rescuing flood-affected people in Chennai. In all, we succeeded in rescuing over 20,000 people.'
The very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae is likely to intensify during the next 24 hours and reach the Gujarat coast on Monday evening, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Modi called for ensuring maintenance of all essential services such as power, telecommunications, health and drinking and their immediate restoration in the event of damages caused to them.
The National Disaster Response Force, Navy and Coast Guard officials have so far been able to locate only a signboard of one of the missing ST buses .
Personnel of NDRF, Fire, Forest and police departments have expanded their search operations to the downstream of a river in their efforts to trace 19 more people who were still missing in the August 7 tragedy near Rajamala.
After undertaking rescue operation in the flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir, the National Disaster Response Force is now focusing on relief operations and had deployed 'boat hospitals' in water logged areas to provide health care facilities to the stranded people.
The death toll in rain-related incidents has gone up to eight in Telangana's Medak district with a factory worker allegedly getting drowned in flood water following heavy showers.
So far, 50 people have also been injured in these incidents, the government said in a statement.
Indian Air Force's C-130 J Super Hercules aircraft on Saturday took off from the Hindon airbase in New Delhi carrying National Disaster Relief Force personnel and relief material to Nepal in the wake of the devastating earthquake that has hit the Himalayan country.
No immediate relief appears in sight as the India Meteorological Department issued a red alert for six districts which have been already pounded by downpour, forecasting "extremely heavy" rainfall and recommending preventive actions.
The system moved north-northeastwards at 20 kmph in the last six hours and is over west-central Bay of Bengal, 90 km from Gopalpur, 120 km from Puri and 210 km from Paradip, the weather office said in its 11.30 am bulletin.
The BJP hailed the order as a "resounding blow to the nefarious designs" of Rahul and the Cong described it as a "body blow to transparency".
One more person died in floods in Patna district, taking the toll due to inundation in Bihar to 10 even as major rivers on Tuesday showed receding trend.
The Gujarat government had evacuated over 63,700 people from coastal areas of eight districts and 18 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and six teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were deployed for rescue operations.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said people living in the coastal belt would be shifted to safer places.
The maximum death toll has been reported from Idukki district, where 43 people have lost their lives so far, as per official estimates. 28 deaths were reported in Malappuram and 27 in Thrissur.
The minister, who made an aerial survey of badly affected areas in Idukki and Ernakulam districts, said the rains and floods had caused 'massive damage' to the farm sector and infrastructure like roads and power.
