Teams of the National Disaster Response Force started landing in Gujarat with the help of the Indian Air Force to undertake preventive evacuation of people living on the west coast, an IAF official said.
Cyclone Hudhud is set to intensify further into a very severe cyclonic storm in the next 12 hours before it makes landfall on October 12.
Flood fury on Sunday maintained its grip over Jammu and Kashmir, leaving 138 dead and many marooned as the swirling waters inundated the army cantonment, Civil Secretariat and the high court in Srinagar and snapped road and communication links.
The police lodged a suo motu case against unknown persons in connection with their involvement in the mishap, a police officer said.
'All the animals -- buffaloes and dogs -- in the proximity of the factory are dead.' 'The situation is so serious that almost one lakh people from nearby localities have moved to safer places fearing the after-effects of the gas leak.' 'There is lot of panic.'
At least 155 people have lost their lives and over 80 lakh people affected in fresh floods due to excessive rains in worst-affected Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Odisha.
Over 150 people have been killed and lakhs have been stranded in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been hit by the worst floods in five decades.
Almost all the deceased were migrant labourers hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
More than 100 people have died in rain-hit Jammu and Kashmir, which is witnessing its worst flood in 50 years.
The Coast Guard has deployed a Chetak Helicopter to carry out search operation for missing vehicles.
The decision to suspend the operations was taken after shutters of the Idamalayar and Cheruthoni dams, part of Idukki reservoir, were opened on Tuesday evening to release excess water.
'The entire idea behind the serial bomb blasts was to strike fear in the minds of Indians.' 'I don't think the blasts were targeted to derail the Indian economy; the idea behind the blasts was retribution.'
Shutters of at least 22 reservoirs in the state have been opened to drain out excess water.
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.
Even since the floods happened, hitherto distant persona in our locality have suddenly discovered the neighbourhood spirit, says Ennapadam S Krishnamoorthy.
Jammu and Kashmir government today declared a flood situation in Kashmir Valley as Jhelum river crossed the danger mark in Srinagar following incessant rains.
'Let people across the LoC see the resolve of Bharat and the contribution of the Indian Security Forces in rebuilding the Valley. Let disaster become the rallying point for integration -- not only of society but also of all the instruments of State,' says General Anil Chait (retd).
The operation to pull out a six-year old boy trapped in an abandoned borewell at a farm in nearby Sulikeri village in Karnataka's Bagalkot district was halted on the sixth day on Friday as his mother led a protest by villagers seeking an end to it.
Jammu and Kashmir continues to remain on a flood alert as most of the rivers in the state are flowing above the danger mark.
At these 'relief camps' people had nothing to sleep on except for a piece of cloth and men and women, boys and girls all cramped together. Factor in the fact that Kakching in the 2011 census had a population of 28,746 people and that about 90 per cent of that population has been affected by the floods now, and one can work the math of the crisis at hand.
State government announced ex gratia for kin of those who lost lives.
Three new categories -- all asymptomatic healthcare workers working in non-COVID hospitals/areas of COVID hospitals/blocks, asymptomatic frontline workers such as surveillance workers deployed in containment zones and paramilitary/police personnel involved in COVID-19 related activities -- have now been included.
He said it was not only a tax reform but 'is a measure that lends strength to the new culture of honesty'.
Educational institutions remained closed even as the weather office forecast heavy downpour in the next three days in the state, Puducherry and coastal Andhra Pradesh.
Jammu and Kashmir was bracing for a fresh spell of rains as predicted by Met department, leading to nervousness among the people who were heaving a sigh of relief as flood situation was showing improvement on Tuesday after causing the death of 17 people.
A new 7.3-magnitude earthquake and seven powerful aftershocks struck Nepal on Tuesday killing at least 50 people and triggering panic in the Himalayan nation already devastated by a monster temblor less than three weeks ago that had claimed over 8,000 lives.
'Earlier India as part of the Third World fought for the rights of the Palestinians. But oddly the defeat of the Congress and the decline of the Nehruvian imagination has altered such perceptions. The new middle class expresses an open sympathy for Israel, contending that Jews like many Hindus has been misunderstood,' says Shiv Visvanathan.
As Cyclone Hudhud is closing in on the Andhra Pradesh coastline and is expected to make a landfall near Visakhapatnam by Sunday afternoon, about 1.11 lakh people in five coastal districts have been shifted to safer places.
'Villages are much better prepared than towns as far as COVID-19 is concerned.'
More than two weeks after a wall collapsed in suburban Mumbai, killing 30 people and injuring more than 100, Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore and Hitesh Harisinghani visit the area to know how the survivors devastated by the deluge are coping with their lives.
A relatively dry spell in Chennai and its neighbourhood brought relief to the flood affected residents and rescue agencies, as hopes of water receding fast went up.
Stepping up relief and rescue operations in quake-hit Nepal, India on Sunday deployed over two dozen aircraft and choppers along with nearly 1000 trained personnel and said the situation in the Himalayan nation was "very, very serious".
The massive earthquake in Sichuan struck at 9:19 pm (local time) on Tuesday and the epicentre was monitored at a depth of 20 km, state-run Xinhua new agency reported.
Vikram J Singh, the highest-ranking Indian American at the Pentagon is quitting his administration job to head up the national security division at the Center for American Progess -- a Washington, DC progressive think tank with close links to President Obama -- which has at its helm another Indian American, Neera Tanden.
All international passengers will henceforth be screened at airports, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said at a press conference. Earlier, travellers from only 12 countries were screened at airports for the disease that has claimed over 3,000 lives and infected more than 90,000 worldwide.
More than 3,000 squads under health and local self-government departments have started the process of cleaning houses and public places, official sources said.
Two men and a woman were on Sunday pulled out alive from under the rubble of their homes in Nepal
'I am proud of Maharashtra and the city of Mumbai, that this is a state which has done more number of tests than any state in India.' 'The more you test, the more number of cases you will pick up.' 'If you do not do the tests, then you are groping in the dark.'
The Looming Tower reveals the bitter CIA-FBI turf battles that led to the worst terrorist attack in America's history.
The Brazilian town of Chapeco, its streets wet with drizzle and buildings draped in the green of its devastated soccer club, prepared Saturday to receive the bodies of victims of an air crash in Colombia that killed 71 people and wiped out the team.
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