At least 66 people were killed and over two hundred people injured when a severe nor'wester with a windspeed of 125 km per hour ripped through North Dinajpur district in West Bengal and four neighbouring districts of Bihar.
The UNICEF said an estimated 2.4 million children have been affected by the recent floods in the country.
With major rivers overflowing due to incessant rainfall, life has come to a stand-still for people in parts of Bihar and Assam.
Chief Ministers of both states announced Rs 4 lakh ex gratia to the next kin of the deceased.
Tracking hundreds of missing people, particularly women and children, in flood-hit Bihar is proving to be the biggest challenge for the state government and the non governmental organisations involved in relief and rehabilitation.Hundreds of people were seen queuing up in front of relief camps in the flood-affected districts of Madhepura, Saharsa, Supaul, Purnia and Araria to trace their missing family members. Thousands of people have been separated from their families.
The death toll in Bihar floods today mounted to 64 with over 33 lakh people spread across 13 districts affected by the deluge.
Flood victims have been fighting for survival and living in temporary shelters nearby railway tracks with lack of food items. They are yet to get any help from the government, reports M I Khan.
Mishra was catapulted to the chief ministership of Bihar following the assassination of his elder brother Lalit Narayan Mishra in 1975.
Bihar government has sounded alert in 28 flood-prone districts following a warning issued by Indian Meteorological Department in the wake of Cyclone Phailin that pounded Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
The flood situation in Bihar showed signs of improvement with major rivers maintaining a receding trend, even as four more deaths were reported from Darbhanga district, taking the total toll to 81.
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.
Over two million people in Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Saharsa, East Champaran, Supaul, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Patna, Katihar and Bhagalpur are reeling under the impact of the calamities
'Everyone relies on caste to win elections in Bihar.'
Hundreds of families of missing people in the flood-affected districts of Madhepura, Saharsa, Supaul, Purnia and Araria, are optimistic that their missing kin will be traced. They have been running from pillar to post ever since water receded to get information about their dear ones.
About 1.82 lakh people have been evacuated to safe places by the rescue teams in last 48 hours.
According to state government data, the first 10 months of last year -- January to October 2020 -- witnessed 2,649 murders in Bihar, an average of nearly nine murders a day.
In Assam, nearly 27.80 lakh people across 26 districts have been affected by the deluge. The deaths were reported from the Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Morigaon districts. The death toll due to floods and landslides this year has risen to 122.
In January, Nitish Kumar assured the Rajputs that he has been making efforts to release Anand Mohan from jail.
The relief materials will be for the marooned people in Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Supaul, Saharsa, Purnea, East and West Champaran districts.
About 2.34 crore voters, spread across 78 assembly segments of the 243-strong assembly, will decide the fates of 1,204 candidates, including the Speaker and 12 members of the state cabinet.
Filing of nominations begins on Wednesday and ends on October 26.
Year after year, floods cause mayhem in Bihar but the government is not paying adequate attention to water management.
This was the first major election in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, the women of Bihar were not intimidated by the pandemic and came out in large numbers to vote.
While the polling so far has been peaceful, police had to open fire in the air in Purnia to disperse a crowd trying to disturb voting, even as people boycotted polling at 12 booths in Katihar in protest against barriers not being set up at two railway crossings.
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.
Purnea bore the brunt of the Nor'wester with a maximum of 38 deaths.
The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a warning about havoc rainfall or a cloud burst hitting Bihar's flood-affected districts in the next 24 to 48 hours, officials said on Sunday.
Rumours of acute scarcity of salt triggered panic buying in half dozen districts of Bihar
The toll in the killer nor'wester in Bihar rose to 54 as reports of 12 more deaths came from the 12 ravaged districts on Thursday.
'We would try our best that the temple structure becomes visible in the next two years.'
At least 42 persons were killed and over 80 seriously injured when a tropical storm ravaged 12 districts of Bihar on Tuesday night, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Wednesday.
Twenty-five people drowned and an equal number went missing when an overcrowded country boat capsized after being caught in a whirlpool in the swollen Kosi river in Supaul on Wednesday.
'Expect very heavy rainfall at some places in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar along with sub-Himalayan West Bengal comprising of Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, including Sikkim, parts of Arunachal Pradesh, and parts of lower Assam, Rangia downward like Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri along with parts of Meghalaya.'
Many bahubalis have fielded their wives and relatives as proxies.
Delhi's primary weather station, the Safdarjung Observatory, registered a maximum temperature of 40.4 degrees Celsius, four notches higher than normal.
The Bhartiya Janata Party along with the Lok Janshakti Party are all set to fight a pitched political battle against the ruling Janata Dal-United and also the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal combine in Bihar. But there's one thing in common between the five major parties of the state -- all of them have fielded bahubalis, criminal-turned-politicians and their wives in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
In addition to the problem of long queues at automated teller machines, there would be the problem of guiding new cardholders, especially in rural and semi-urban areas, on how to use those cards, some bankers told Business Standard.
The problem is set to grow following issuance of 75 million new RuPay cards in the next six months with the launch of the Jan Dhan Yojana.