Centre ordered release of Rs 1,086 crore to four states as advance financial assistance for undertaking preventive and relief measures to deal with the cyclone.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday said that there was no tsunami threat in Mumbai after an earthquake of 8.9 magnitude hit waters off the western coast of northern Sumatra in Indonesia. Talking to reporters, Chavan said an alert has been received from the Hyderabad-based Centre for National Tsunami Warning as a precaution. "The alert will continue till further instructions are received. But there is no threat in Mumbai," he added.
This month has been the "wettest" March in northern and central parts of the country in the past 100 years, the Indian Meteorological Department said on Sunday, and predicted more rains in the coming two weeks.
The national capital battled weather conditions in the "red category" as the maximum temperature recorded at the Palam observatory was 46.1C,
Parts of Raigad, Ratnagiri districts in the coastal Konkan region and Kolhapur district in western Maharashtra, have been worst affected by the floods. Besides that, heavy rains have been pounding parts of Satara district.
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.
The smog reduced the visibility to merely 300 meters in the morning affecting traffic, an official of the India Meteorological Department said.
The Santacruz observatory recorded 286.4 mm rainfall during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Wednesday, making it the fourth highest rainfall in Mumbai since 1974, an Indian Meteorological Department official said.
The weatherman said when 'Amphan' makes the landfall between West Bengal's Digha, some 180 km from Kolkata, and Hatiya island in Bangladesh on Wednesday afternoon or evening, it will pack sustained wind speed of 155 to 165 kmph, gusting at 185 kmph. The gale-force wind, blowing at a speed of 240 to 250 kmph and gusting to 275 kmph at one point, had lost intensity and was moving at a speed of 200 to 210 kmph, gusting to 230 kmph on Tuesday evening.
'Southwest Monsoon has advanced into remaining parts of Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab and thus it has covered the entire country today, the 26th June 2020,' the IMD said in its special Daily Weather Report.
With the cyclone set to make landfall on Wednesday, Maharashtra and Gujarat activated their disaster response mechanism, deploying NDRF teams and evacuating people from areas likely to be hit.
The India Meteorological Department, which had issued a red colour-coded alert for north India for May 25-26 when the prevailing heatwave conditions are expected to peak, said dust and thunderstorms are likely to bring some relief on May 29-30.
The IMD has also issued a red-coded warning alert to the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.
The MeT department warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall in Gangetic West Bengal till Saturday, ahead of Durga Puja festivities.
The Ayanagar weather station recorded 122.8 mm between 8.30 am on Wednesday and 8.30 am on Thursday, which was 11 times the normal rainfall.
The minimum temperature settled at 2.6 degree Celsius at the Safdarjung observatory, four notches below the season's average, and humidity was 100 per cent. The visibility recorded by the Safdarjung and Palam observatories stood at zero metres at 8.30 am. It was recorded at 100 metres at Safdarjung and zero at Palam at 5.30 am.
The prime minister also asserted that in view of the COVID-19 situation, the states must ensure that people follow all health precautions such as wearing of face masks, hand sanitisation and maintaining an adequate physical distance with each other while undertaking rescue efforts.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced Rs 10,000 as immediate relief to each flood-hit household in Hyderabad, lashed by incessant rains since last week, besides an assistance of Rs 1 lakh each to those whose houses were completely destroyed and Rs 50,000 for the partially damaged.
However, some areas in south Mumbai, which witnessed a record rain on Wednesday, were still water-logged, they said. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted moderate to heavy rainfall in the city and suburbs and intense showers in some parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in next 24 hours.
The Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority, in a tweet, said as per the latest updates #GajaCyclone is likely to have landfall between 8 pm and 11 pm on Thursday in all probability in Nagapattinam district.
A city resident doesn't find Delhi to be livable anymore.
Nepal has been hit by heavy rainfall since Thursday. More than 25 districts and 10,385 households have been affected.
The two western states, already battling a raging pandemic, which has put their health infrastructure under severe strain, opened new fronts to tackle the fallout of the storm which is expected to make a landfall close to Mumbai on Wednesday. They are likely to be impacted most by the cyclone.
The meteorological department has forecast more rains through the day and relative humidity at 100 per cent in Delhi.
An amount of Rs 12 crore has been earmarked for the project.
Isolated heavy rainfall is also very likely over north Konkan region during the same period, it said.
Chief Minister K Palaniswami announced a solatium of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of each of the victims
Pakistan Meteorological Department's earthquake centre said the 5.8-magnitude earthquake was located near the mountainous city of Jehlum in Punjab province.
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.
Five people, including a toddler, have been killed and over 100,000 people evacuated in Malaysia after one of the country's worst floods hit 4 states, forcing Prime Minister Najib Razak to cut short his holiday in the US.
The Indian Meteorological Department, meanwhile, warned of intense spell of 30 to 50 mm rainfall per hour with strong winds in Mumbai and suburban areas.
Swarms of immature pink locusts and adult yellow locusts are currrently active. Not only are fresh locusts swarms expected to arrive in the coming weeks, but even those already present in India have mated and are breeding new offspring.
Gale-force winds, heavy rainfall and high tidal waves swept the coastal belt of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa as Cyclone Tauktae hurtled northwards towards Gujarat on Sunday, leaving four people dead in Karnataka and two in Goa, damaging hundreds of houses, uprooting electricity poles and trees and forcing evacuation.
The sky turned cloudy around 4:30pm and gusty winds swept the national capital.
Pollution levels in Delhi and satellite towns shot up again on Sunday morning, with the air quality bordering the 'severe plus' category at several places.
The overall AQI deteriorated further and touched the 268 mark, which falls in the poor category.
He said India has a rich tradition and a long history of both discovery and use of science and technology.
According to the SRC, the evacuation of eight lakh people is the largest-ever evacuation operation in the country.
The government has asked the general public to call toll free numbers 1070 and 1077 during emergency situations .
According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research, the overall air quality of the national capital docked at 376 at 8:30 am on Tuesday.
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