Terror outfits in Jammu and Kashmir are now constructing elaborately-designed underground bunkers deep inside thick forests and elevated ridges instead of taking shelter in local houses, officials said. This tactical shift, fuelled by eroding local support, presents a new challenge to the Army and other security forces.
Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Party chief L K Advani asked his party MPs to donate Rs 10,000 from their salary for providing relief to victims of flash floods in Leh and suggested that the MPLAD funds be diverted for rehabilitation and rebuilding of the region.
'We cried our hearts out as we saw our huts going underwater. It was hard to believe that I was fast asleep at the same spot just 15-20 minutes ago'
The death toll included over 450 from intense heat wave last summer, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
'What we are witnessing is not a freak incidence or a freak occurrence, but a new climate reality where warming oceans, monsoon variability and local geography are combining to produce extreme events.'
Lightning claims more lives in India annually than any other extreme weather event. Between April and July this year alone, 1,621 people died due to lightning strikes.
The officials identified the deceased as Ashwani Sharma (24), his brother Dwarka Nath (55), niece Virta Devi (26) and their guest Om Raj (38), a resident of Banshara in Rajgarh. The rescuers are searching for Sharma's sister-in-law, Bidya Devi (55).
At least two persons were killed and four others injured in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district as a mortar shell, reportedly carried by the floodwaters of Teesta river, exploded, police said on Friday.
At least seven persons killed in flood and landslides triggered by incessant rain in South West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya where about one lakh people from over 200 villages have been rendered homeless so far even as the authorities have been caught off guard in the face of disaster.
Raja and his wife Sonam disappeared on May 23 hours after they checked out of a homestay at Nongriat village, 20 km from where his body was found, they said.
The India meteorological department on Sunday issued an 'orange' alert for Gujarat, saying the state was expected to receive "heavy to very heavy rainfall" on July 24.
A tsunami-like tidal water waves ripped through an Australian valley, killing at least nine people, including four children, as cars and trees were tossed around and military helicopters soared above to search for 72 people reported missing.
Road and rail links between lower and upper Assam remained disrupted for the fourth day on Tuesday.
National Disaster Response Force personnel on Tuesday joined the search for a missing tourist from Indore a day after her husband's body was found in a gorge in Sohra area of Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district, police said.
The Amarnath pilgrimage resumed on Monday after remaining suspended for three days following flash floods that claimed 15 lives, while the Jammu and Kashmir administration said it would get a clear picture by Tuesday about the damage.
Seven more deaths were reported on Friday from interior villages of the flood-hit East and West Midnapore districts, raising the toll to 53, even as the situation further improved.
The threat of flash floods in Himachal has reduced substantially because of receding water levels of river Sutlej.
Originating from Vasudhara Tal, perhaps the largest glacial lake in Uttarakhand, the Dhauli Ganga flows in a meandering course, which takes it through the Nanda Devi National Park.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said on Saturday the loss to the public and private property due to flash floods in the state could be much higher than the state government's preliminary estimate of around Rs 2,575 crore. He said the detailed estimate of flash floods loss would be assessed after normal life is restored in the entire area.
The flash floods triggered by swirling waters of Gai-Nadi and Jiadhal rivers have left a trail of devastation in Dhemaji district of eastern Assam.
Chidambaram said this to state Chief Minister Nabam Tuki who called him at New Delhi yesterday and briefed him on the extensive damages caused by the recent spate of flash floods in the state, official sources said in Itanagar on Friday.
About 40 people went missing on Sunday after a lorry carrying about 50 people was washed away in flash floods in a rivulet in Guntur district as it was drying negotiate the flood waters over a bridge. The tragedy occurred when the toll in the continuing heavy rains and flood over the last two days has mounted to 59 -- 14 of them in the state capital Hyderabad and 13 in Krishna district.
Heavy rains and landslides in Himachal Pradesh have resulted in multiple fatalities and widespread disruption, including road closures and train cancellations.
Two teams of glaciologists will head to Joshimath-Tapovan on Monday to study the causes of massive flood caused after a part of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, the director of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology said.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday announced a Rs 100 crore grant for development of the flood-ravaged Dhemaji district in the state.
The latest rains since Saturday evening led to lakes and other water bodies overflowing and triggering flooding of several low-lying areas, including places affected last week, in Hyderabad and on the outskirts.
Rajasthan's three districts -- Jalore, Sirohi and Barmer -- are reeling under a flood-like situation due to heavy rainfall caused by cyclonic storm Biparjoy, an official said on Sunday.
Twenty-six teams of veterinary experts and sanitation employees were sent to the area to dispose of the rotting animal carcasses without any delay, he said.
Eighteen people were killed in flash floods and heavy rains that lashed four south coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh during the last five days, official sources said on Tuesday.
Five bodies were recovered while 52 others were missing in flash floods caused by cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh's Ganavi village that swept away 16 houses, a senior district official said on Wednesday.
Twenty-three persons have died in flash floods in East and West Midnapore districts of West Bengal during the past two days, officials said. West Midnapore District Magistrate N S Nigam said 15 persons died in his district. All 15 deaths were reported from Sabang, Pingla and Narayangarh. Of these, Narayangarh alone accounted for 11 deaths.
Around 100 American nationals have been affected by the flash floods in Leh, the United Sttaes said, adding its embassy in New Delhi has dispatched a team to the region to provide them necessary help.
Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was suspended due to lurking threat of floods in the Valley, leaving hundreds of commuters stranded, officials said.
Last month authorities asked people living near the banks of swollen rivers to move to safer ground, but Ahmed said many refused to do so.
Forty bodies of flood victims were recovered from Haridwar on Friday, taking the toll in the rain fury to 190 as operations to rescue over 9,000 stranded in Kedarnath and Badrinath were stepped up with the deployment of 40 helicopters.
More than 800 people have died and at least one million affected by flash floods triggered by the worst monsoon rains in Pakistan in eight decades, officials and the United Nations said on Saturday.
Flood waters were receding in all but some villages in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna and Guntur districts and in Karnataka on Tuesday as the toll due caused by the receding monsoon in the states rose to 275.
The death toll due to heavy rains and flash floods caused by a deep depression in Andhra Pradesh has risen to 41 on Saturday morning, according to the official count.
The study by an international team led by scientists at the UK's Newcastle University is the first global assessment of areas at greatest risk of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF). Published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday, it estimates that 15 million people around the world are at risk from flooding caused by glacial lakes.
The Amarnath Yatra has been suspended from Jammu due to inclement weather conditions and no fresh batch was allowed to proceed from Jammu to the base camps of the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said.
