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.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the Centre had sent multiple advance warnings to the Kerala government about possible floods and landslides in the state, starting as early as July 23, and nine National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were rushed to the state the same day.
More than 11,000 personnel of various agencies including Gujarat Police, NSG, RAF, and home guards among others will be deployed in Ahmedabad and at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad during the India-Pakistan World Cup cricket match on October 14, a senior officer said on Monday.
A defence spokesperson said that nine persons were stranded on the terrace of a building close to the Ulhas river near Kalyan.
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.
While two lives were "tragically" lost before the landfall of the cyclone, not a single human life was lost post the landfall in Gujarat.
A four-storey residential building in Delhi's Mustafabad collapsed on Saturday morning, killing four people and trapping many others under the rubble. Rescue teams are working to pull survivors from the debris, but the collapse has been described as a "pancake collapse" where chances of survival are minimal.
In Chamoli district, a flood-like situation has developed along the banks of a dozen rivers, including Alaknanda and its tributaries Pindar, Nandakini and Birhi.
A cylinder exploded in a tent at the Digambar Ani Akhara at the Kumbh Mela site.
Two bodies were recovered from the Manuni Khad in Kangra district while around 15-20 workers stationed at a labour colony near the Indira Priyadarshini Hydroelectric project site were feared swept away following a surge in water level in the Khaniyara Manuni Khad.
As many as 21,080 villagers from Vasai, Palghar, Dahanu and Talasari talukas, which are likely to be affected by the cyclonic storm, have been shifted to safer places, district collector Dr Kailas Shinde said.
More than a dozen Mountain Rescue Teams assisted thousands of pilgrims during this year's Amarnath pilgrimage in the south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said on Monday, as the annual yatra concluded with more than 5.10 lakh pilgrims offering prayers at the cave shrine.
Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, was caught in a massive flood of unprecedented scale on Thursday, leaving hundreds of pilgrims stranded even as a heavy downpour under the influence of a depression in Bay of Bengal battered the temple-town Tirupati and many parts of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh.
The 77th Independence Day on Tuesday was a low-key affair in Himachal Pradesh with the traditional cultural programmes missing from official and district-level functions as the state mourns the deaths and destruction caused by incessant rains.
The estimated strength of these nine teams is about 240 personnel, they said.
As sludge started solidifying inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel in Telangana, rescuers are planning to use sniffer dogs to locate those got trapped, District Collector B Santhosh said on Wednesday.
The Seismological department said that the quake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale and lasted for about two minutes.
Bhavnagar was also one of the worst affected districts, they said, adding that more downpour is likely over the next four day in parts of the state.
At least 28 people died in rain-related incidents Sunday as heavy downpours lashed north and northwest India, causing landslides, traffic chaos and house collapses, as well as a dam breach which inundated several villages in Haryana.
Our men are deputed in the dedicated control rooms of states so that we are on the same page with the local authority in terms of the information, work and tasking, he added.
Eight persons were killed and five others rescued after several vehicles fell into a river following the collapse of a portion of a four-decade-old bridge in Gujarat's Vadodara district on Wednesday morning, police said.
The India Meteorological Department has said that the landfall process of Cyclone 'Biparjoy' has started in Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat. The landfall process will carry on till midnight with wind speeds reaching a maximum of 140 kilometres per hour, the IMD said.
The building, which housed godowns on the ground and first floors and four families on the top floor, collapsed at 1.45 pm on Saturday at Wardhaman Compound in Valpada of Mankoli area.
Five people were killed and about 50 missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh where rains washed away many houses, bridges and roads, officials said on Thursday.
"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.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has announced Rs 10 lakh ex gratia for bereaved families.
Groups of relatives have gathered at the Tapovan tunnel, hoping that their loved ones will emerge alive from its mouth.
Relatively a lesser degree of damage, including those to houses marked the landfall of cyclonic storm Mandous in Tamil Nadu and at least four people were killed in rain-related incidents, authorities said in Chennai on Saturday.
The jawan said he used his mobile phone light to locate hurt and trapped passengers and took them to safety.
The chief minister will visit Joshimath on Saturday, meet the affected people and hold a meeting with officials.
The death toll in the avalanche triggered by the bursting of a glacier in Chamoli has gone up to 58 as a total of 11 bodies are recovered from the Tapovan tunnel, whereas 146 people are still missing, said Uttarakhand Police on Tuesday.
After making landfall near Puducherry on November 30, Cyclone Fengal weakened on Sunday, but torrential downpour under its influence paralysed the union territory, with the Army stepping in to evacuate stranded persons in inundated streets.
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.
National security advisor Ajit Doval on Friday suggested that various central armed police forces of the country should have "jointness" and interoperability among themselves like the ongoing plan for the defence forces.
The labourers have been trapped since Sunday morning when a part of the tunnel collapsed following a landslide.
Telangana Minister J Krishna Rao told reporters that the chances of survival under the circumstances are "not that good."
Relief Commissioner Alok Pandey told reporters that the government is constantly working to ensure that there is no loss of life due to the weather phenomenon.
Thirteen teams of the National Disaster Response Force and three of the State Disaster Response Force were deployed in vulnerable districts of the state, a disaster management department report said.
Two more died in the state today. With this, the total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslide has gone up to 115 across the state -- 89 were killed in flood-related incidents and 26 in landslides.
Assam reeled under devastating floods caused by incessant rain, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking stock of the situation and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visiting several relief camps sheltering affected people on Saturday, officials said.
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