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.
Sajid Piludia of Morbi's biggest graveyard for Sunni Muslims said nearly 40 members of the Muslim community lost their lives in the incident.
At least eight persons were killed in a cloudburst near the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas on Friday evening, damaging 25 tents and three community kitchens, officials said.
The Yamuna surged to a record 208.48 metres at 8 am, the Central Water Commission said on Thursday, adding that it is likely to rise to 208.75 metres by 4 pm.
The apex court urged the central government to update the drought management manual by December 31.
Saturday's special search operation to trace the 17 missing engineering students from Hyderabad yielded no results as the 450 rescuers combing the 3-km stretch of Beas river, whose water level was lowered to minimum, failed to recover the body of any student.
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.
The Santacruz weather station in suburban Mumbai recorded a whopping 242 mm rainfall in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 am Thursday.
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
Heavy rains continued to pound Chennai and nearby districts on Monday under the impact of a cyclonic storm, which is likely to cross the coast in Andhra Pradesh on December 5.
Police have sealed the area while a fire brigade and an ambulance have been deployed there.
Two days after one of India's worst train accidents at Bahanaga Bazar in Odisha's Balasore district, two railway tracks have been made fit to carry trains after bulldozers and cranes removed capsized coaches on the main trunk line connecting eastern and southern India.
The bus was on its way to Jaora from Ratlam when the mishap occurred on the four-lane road at 12 Patthar Khadan,
All 12 who had been buried under the rubble while repairing a drain adjoining it at the Jal Vayu Vihar in Sector 21 around 10 am were labourers.
Massive relief and rescue operations have been launched in Manipur where a strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday claimed nine lives, shattered buildings and caused panic.
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 field hospital set up by the Indian Army in Hatay province of quake-ravaged Turkiye has become operational with surgical and emergency wards to provide succour to the affected people, days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake and several powerful aftershocks hit that country.
A series of flash floods in Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh killed at least 16 people on Wednesday and damaged several residential houses, standing crops and a mini power plant, officials said.
At least 15,000 pilgrims, who were stranded near the Amarnath holy cave in Jammu and Kashmir due to a flash flood triggered by a cloudburst, have been shifted to the lower base camp of Panjtarni, an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) spokesperson said on Saturday.
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.
The Delhi government has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident.
As many as 47 injured people (of the total 201) were undergoing treatment at various hospitals. Rest were discharged.
The CM urged all Malayalis to donate one month salary to rebuild the state, where the death toll has now touched 302.
The Odisha government is preparing for Cyclone Phailin -- which is expected to hit the east coast on Saturday evening -- on a war footing.
A portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Sunday, triggering an avalanche and a deluge in the Alaknanda river system that washed away hydroelectric stations, leaving at least seven people dead and 125 missing who are feared dead.
The much-awaited Ram temple consecration will be held in Ayodhya on Monday in a grand ceremony with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the rituals, following which the shrine will be opened for the public a day later.
Eye-witnesses said the blast took place at around 7 am. They said a noise of the blast was heard and the 20-year-old building was reduced to rubble.
Working round-the-clock to help flood victims in Bihar, National Disaster Response Force personnel rendered timely help to three marooned pregnant women at separate places deliver their babies safely.
Police said around 15 people were rescued and shifted to Acharya Bhikshu hospital. Of them, seven died and four people, who were critical, have been shifted to Safdarjung hospital. A few more persons are feared trapped under the debris, they said.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who is in Delhi, expressed grief at the loss of lives and announced a compensation of Rs two lakh each to the families of the victims.
The Tanur police said a case was registered on Sunday itself against the owner of the boat, which reportedly did not have a licence to function.
The IMD has also issued a red-coded warning alert to the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.
The minister, who made an aerial survey of badly affected areas in Idukki and Ernakulam districts, said the rains and floods had caused 'massive damage' to the farm sector and infrastructure like roads and power.
'We expect the movements to come down to a trickle or even to stop at all these places,' says NDRF DG Satya Pradhan.
The incident comes days after the decomposed and mangled body of a three-year-old boy, Sujith Wilson, was pulled out from deep inside an unused borewell, after a futile 80-hour attempt to save the child who had fallen in while playing near his house in Nadukattupatti in Tiruchirappalli.
'The problem is that all this reconstruction work is being monitored by the prime minister himself with inputs being provided directly by the PMO so nobody in the state government dare contradict them even if their suggestions are totally contrary to what the ecology of this region requires.'
Tourism is badly affected. Entire apple orchards have been washed away. 2 million people are threatened with loss of livelihood.
The entry of the 152-members three NDRF teams and six canines into the disaster zone was swift, and their exit "moving and emotional".
At least 15 people have died in heavy floods and landslides triggered by continuous rain for the last three days in Assam, where airforce helicopters, army, National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force have been pressed into service for rescue work, officials said.
"Six bodies have been retrieved from the accident site so far. The rescue teams are still on job," an NDRF spokesperson said.
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