Eight people were killed and over 60 injured on Monday when a huge iron hoarding collapsed on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar area of Mumbai amid rain and gusty wind, while several others are feared trapped, officials said.
The Centre said that there was no legal provision to declare a disaster as a national calamity, amid demands for declaring the floods as a national disaster.
Three more bodies were recovered from Beas river on Thursday twelve days after 25 persons, including 24 students from a Hyderabad engineering college, were swept away in the river.
The home minister held discussions with chief secretary and other state officials on the situation arising due to the forest fire and offered all assistance from the Centre.
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.
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.
According to the home ministry's National Emergency Response Centre, 138 people have died in Maharashtra, 125 in Kerala, 116 in West Bengal, 52 in Gujarat and 34 in Assam due to the floods and rains.
'It is very likely to move nearly northwards for next few hour and recurve slowly north-northeastwards along Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni and Visakhapatnam coasts during noon to evening on Wednesday and emerge into west central Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh coasts by night,' the India Meteorological Department said in its national bulletin.
The government has asked the general public to call toll free numbers 1070 and 1077 during emergency situations .
It was a special-purpose mobile gantry crane used in bridge construction and to install precast box girders in highway construction projects.
The CM announced ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kins of those killed.
The administration is geared up for more showers as the India meteorological department has warned of heavy to very heavy rains with isolated extremely heavy rains in several districts of the state till Thursday morning.
Naim Sheikh, who knew how to swim managed to save, with the help of his friends, about 50-60 people, even though, he himself was also injured in the incident.
So far, 15 bodies have been recovered from the debris, while 12 persons are still missing.
The National Disaster Response Force personnel were pressed into service soon after the incident and rescue and search operations were underway, police said.
Here's a recap of the events from the past 48 hours.
About 1.82 lakh people have been evacuated to safe places by the rescue teams in last 48 hours.
The cyclone is expected to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm by Tuesday, a home ministry statement said.
From the landing of Chandrayaan 3 to the bombardment of Palestine by Israel, a look at some events that shaped the world in the second half of 2023.
"The fourth body was found at 230ft in general area where the third body was found. It is located about 20 feet away from the pulley cart used to transport the dug-out coal," operation spokesperson R Susngi said.
The blast took place at the shop in Rohta Bazaar, which was run by Kaliyar Mansoori. His son was running a carpet factory behind the shop and its workers could be among those trapped under the debris, District Magistrate Rajendra Prasad said.
The government, which has expedited rehabilitation efforts, said over 1.28 crore food packets have been distributed and an immediate relief amount of Rs 67.47 crore was disbursed among over 1.11 lakh families.
The PIL filed by Aditya N Prasad also sought a direction to the Centre and other authorities concerned to prepare a standard operating procedure for rescue operations in mining.
Many low-lying areas in West Bengal's sub-Himalayan region were reeling from a flood-like situation while major rivers in Bihar were flowing above the danger level at several places as unabated heavy rain lashed the country's eastern parts on Sunday.
Here's a glimpse of how the massive rescue operation was carried out by the agencies.
'The Weather Channel argues that India faces the gravest challenge: Climate change-induced health vulnerability.' 'This is an issue often neglected, alerts Claude Arpi: "Prolonged summers, unpredictable rains, floods, droughts, and rising sea levels are the harsh realities of climate change in the country. These factors increase the frequency and severity of illnesses, pushing people into poverty, and forcing migration".'
An inquiry has been ordered by the Director General of Mines Safety and a high-level committee of experts has been constituted by Coal India to investigate the causes of the accident.
Residents in Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra continue to struggle as floods leave them in a watery hell.
An ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh, including an immediate relief of Rs 50,000, was announced by the collector for the kin of the deceased.
A packed beyond capacity bus carrying passengers returning to work after Diwali fell into a deep gorge in Uttarakhand's Almora district on Monday, killing at least 36 of the over 60 people on board.
The vehicle, a Tavera, was on its way to Jammu from Srinagar and it fell into a 300-foot gorge at the Battery Cheshma area of the district around 1.15 am, they said.
The Army, National Disaster Response Force and local rescue teams have been called in for the rescue work, the Kinnaur deputy commissioner said.
Train services resumed on Thursday through Chhapra line under Sonepur division after debris was cleared from the track in the wake of derailment of the New Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani at Goldenganj station which killed four persons and left 23 others injured on Wednesday.
The cyclonic depression may have crossed the Tamil Nadu coast on Thursday evening, but the state continues to be battered by heavy rains.
The court also directed that the NDRF should be trained and equipped to tackle the drought-like situation.
The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Thursday with one more person losing his life and nearly 7.18 lakh people in 27 districts remaining affected by the deluge, an official bulletin said.
An estimated 1.5 lakh people are being shifted from low-lying coastal areas in Gujarat while 54 teams of the NDRF and SDRF remained deployed on Sunday in view of the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) warning that the very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae will reach the state coast on Monday evening and cross it on early Tuesday morning.
The official said his team members had been told that there were few customers at an eatery situated in the ground floor and no one knew the exact numbers.
India has sent to Turkey two plane-loads of relief materials and medical teams for survivors of the devastating earthquake that killed over 5,000 people.
