Millions of devotees, particularly married women, took a dip in the rivers, ponds and makeshift water bodies and offered prayers as the four-day-long Chhath began amidst tight security on Monday in Bihar.
The next two days are very crucial in terms of rescuing the maximum number of pilgrims and tourists stranded in rain-hit Uttarakhand as heavy showers may come anytime, a senior official said.
Maharashtra government on Wednesday approved a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the victims of landslide at Malin village in Pune district, as the toll in the July 30 disaster has reached 153.
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.
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.
'My father, mother and other relatives died in the landslide'
The directives came after he took stock of the situation arising from the massive earthquake at a high-level meeting attended by Ministers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra and senior officials of National Disaster Response Force and Indian Metereological Department.
Modi called for timely evacuation of those involved in off-shore activities.
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday set up an inquiry commission to probe the collapse of a 11-storey under-construction residential building in Chennai in which the death toll has shot up to 60.
With this, the death count in the August 2 night tragedy has gone up to 28, while 12 people are still missing.
Rescue workers pulled out all 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency rescue operation that hovered between hope and despair for 16 days.
Hundreds of people are facing a shortage of food, safe drinking water and sanitation in Kathmandu following the natural disaster, according to eyewitnesses.
Here's a look at the water-logging in the city.
Eighty-year-old Pratima Devi has been taking care of over 200 street dogs for over 30 years.
Local residents, who were watching the operation with baited breath, cheered with joy after the boy was rescued.
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 Solicitor General had told the bench that several members of the National Disaster Response Force were working at the site and instead of the army, the government has sent navy personnel there as the mine was submerged in water.
While resting on a bed in state-run J J Hospital, Shamani, who is in his 30s, said he could only recall that he was sleeping in a flat in the ill-fated building and suddenly heard a loud thud.
National Disaster Response Force divers recovered the bodies of Pranav Lele (29), Sahil Quereshi (28) and Shrutika Chandwani (27).
Several people were feared trapped under the debris, police said, adding that the rescue operation was underway.
At least six persons, including two children, were on Tuesday killed when the wall of a building collapsed on two adjacent huts in MJ Colony in Hyderabad.
The National Disaster Response Force on Friday intensified its relief and rescue operations in the rain and flood-battered Chennai and its adjoining areas as it added 20 more teams for the job and rescued over 10,000 people till now.
In what appears to be the last phase of the massive rescue operation, National Disaster Response Force jawans have recovered 21 more bodies from under the debris of landslide in Malin village in Pune district, which takes the death toll in the July 30 disaster to 151.
At present, 2,265 villages were inundated and 1,12,667.06 hectares of crop area has been damaged across Assam, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said.
During the heavy rains through the week here and other regions of Tamil Nadu not only inflatable boats, but preparedness, determination and presence of mind came in handy for personnel including policemen and women, civic and forest workers who rescued people, animals and snakes.
A Nepalese woman was miraculously rescued alive by Indian rescuers 50 hours after being buried under the rubble following the devastating earthquake that jolted the country, killing over 5,000 people.
With the tropical cyclone Tauktae set to cross the Gujarat coast and make a landfall as an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm' by Monday night, the state government has shifted over 1.5 lakh people to safer places and mobilised disaster response teams.
State pegs total loss due to rains at Rs 8,481 crore.
Thousands of people in Darbhanga, West Champaran and Nalanda districts in Bihar have been affected by floods after rivers flowing through these districts breached their embankments. Floods occurred in Darbhanga and West Champaran districts after breaches developed in the embankments of Kamla Balan and Gandak rivers respectively, while in Nalanda it was due to the overflowing of Panchane river.
A Regional Meteorological Centre bulletin said a cyclonic circulation is now seen over the Comorin area and its neighbourhood, extending up to mid tropospheric levels.
The Santacruz weather station in suburban Mumbai recorded a whopping 242 mm rainfall in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 am Thursday.
The apex court urged the central government to update the drought management manual by December 31.
The body has been detected inside the 370-foot-deep coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district,
The India Meteorological Department said the deep depression over the Gulf of Mannar close to Ramanathapuram district's coast remained practically stationary for 18 hours and then weakened into a depression.
Group Commander (coordination) B K Jha was admitted to the Central Armed Police Forces Hospital in Greater Noida after he contracted COVID-19 and breathed his last early morning.
Under its impact, rains will start on Sunday night and gradually increase on Monday in the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said.
As the low-pressure area in the south-eastern Arabian Sea intensified into a severe depression on Friday, heavy rains lashed many parts of Kerala and huge tidal waves started hitting low-lying coastal areas.
Six teams of the National Disaster Response Force are being deployed in four coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh as cyclonic storm 'Helen' is expected to cross the Bay of Bengal coast near Kavali on Thursday evening.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast 'extremely heavy rains' at a few places in Marathwada, Mumbai and other parts of the coastal Konkan region of Maharashtra in the next 24 hours.
Rescue efforts were hampered on Monday due to increased discharge of water in Beas river following widespread rains as no headway was made in tracing the missing 16 students and a guide who were swept away by the gushing waters.
