Amid fears of epidemic outbreak, the mass cremation process in Kedarnath, worst-hit in the Uttarakhand flash floods, was expedited, even as air operations to evacuate stranded people from Badrinath was Thursday halted with the weather packing up.
As the weather improved in parts of north India, which was pummelled by heavy rains for days, authorities on Wednesday worked on a war footing to rescue stranded tourists, restore vehicular traffic on arterial roads and prevent floodwaters from entering new areas.
Three Army jawans were killed in two flood-related road accidents at Tenga and Bomdir in Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday. Army sources at Tezpur said two Army jawans were killed when their vehicles, carrying eight persons, hurtled down the hilly road at Bomdir, 30 km from Tawang, on July 30. On Saturday, another jawan was killed in a landslide at Tenga, sources said. Torrential rains since July 27 have caused flash floods and landslides.
Heavy rains in the last three days triggered flash floods in parts of Bihar, where 41 people have died so far, and inundated large areas in Assam and North Bengal, paralysing normal life and snapping rail link to the Northeast from the rest of the country.
It has noted that melting glaciers due to any impact of climate change will not only severely affect the flow in Himalayan river system but will also give rise to natural disasters.
India cricketer Harbhajan Singh, who was stranded in Joshimath due to incessant rains while on a pilgrimage, was rescued and taken to safety by the Indian Air Force.
Rains continued to lash most parts of north India on Tuesday, affecting normal life in the region.
Nearly 86 lakh people in the state's 32 districts have been affected by heavy rain and subsequent floods this year, bringing life to a screeching halt in many parts.
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At least 16 people have died in flood-related incidents in Odisha, where the situation remained grim even as major rivers were receding on Saturday. Two deaths each were reported from Bhadrak, Jajpur and Nayagarh districts while in worst-hit Ganjam district it remained unchanged at six and four in Jagatsinghpur, Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra told reporters here after the situation was reviewed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
"Our house is gone, household goods have perished and all our animals killed. We did not have anything to eat," said Chamail Singh of Rajouri district while showering praise on Indian Air Force for air-dropping food items and other relief material.
The IMD also issued a red alert in the same 10 districts for August 3 also.
Top commanders of the Indian Army deliberated on the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel-Hamas conflict at a five-day conclave to draw relevant lessons besides focusing on ways to make the force 'future ready' in line with with emerging contours of threats and challenges.
Unofficial sources put the toll in the twin tragedies at 100.
Three more bodies were recovered from the National Thermal Power Corporation's flood-ravaged Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project site on Saturday taking the toll in the February 7 glacial disaster in Uttarakhand to 65, officials said.
'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.'
Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh on Saturday accused the Congress-led United Progresive Alliance government of bluffing the country over the number of lives lost in the recent Uttarakhand flash floods.
An old couple, who survived the massive Uttarakhand flash floods triggered by incessant rains, said it was as if a "second life had been granted to them".
A Rediff.com correspondent spells out the trail of destruction in Uttarakhand as it tries to come to terms with the catastrophic monsoons.
India recorded 125 extremely heavy rainfall events during September and October of 2021, the highest in five years, owing to late withdrawal of the southwest monsoon and higher-than-normal low-pressure systems, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Tuesday.
Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday spoke to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and urged him to evacuate pilgrims stranded in Uttarkashi region of Uttarakhand in the aftermath of flash floods there.
The state has suffered losses of Rs 4,000 crore and the figure is likely to go up as estimates continue to pour in, he said.
"Yeh kaam hamare ghar ka hai, duty ka nahin (The rescue work we are doing is personal work for us and not just a part of official duty)," an Indo-Tibetan Border Police jawan, who hails from Kumaon region, said.
A large number of people are feared trapped in the debris and rescue operations have been launched, Disaster Management and Mitigation department officials in Dehrdun said citing initial reports.
According to the state government, 60,000 tourists have so far been evacuated from the hill state.
At least 13 people lost their lives as heavy rains swept across the Northern region with many rivers rising above the danger mark and inundating several villages.
Shutters of at least 22 reservoirs in the state have been opened to drain out excess water.
'An earthquake of a slightly higher magnitude in the Western Himalayan region is going to be catastrophic -- not just because of the fragility of the region but because of how densely we have occupied it.'
The capital of Georgia has been placed on lockdown after heavy flooding destroyed enclosures at the city's zoo allowing tigers, lions, jaguars, wolves, jackals and a hippo to escape and roam the streets.
Heavy rains lashed Saurashtra region and Kutch district creating a flash flood like situation in Bhuj town, where over 15,000 people were evacuated by local administration, National Disaster Response Force was deployed and Army and Border Security Force have been asked to remain on stand by.
DGCA had earlier directed all airlines not to charge anything extra from passengers from Srinagar and Jammu.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with senior Cabinet ministers, arrived in Leh on Tuesday on a day-long visit to take stock of the relief and rehabilitation work undertaken in the aftermath of the recent flash floods. He is expected to announce a Rs 250-crore package for the victims. The prime minister is accompanied by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will go on a daylong visit on Tuesday to Leh, which has been hit by cloudburst and flash floods that claimed around 200 lives and left over 400 injured
NIIT Chairman Rajendra Pawar on why he's building a new university in hot, dry Rajasthan.
Six Indian Air Force aircraft carrying relief material, rescue workers and doctors landed in Leh on Saturday to provide succour to the people of the region affected by cloudburst and flash floods.
Ravaging floods claimed 17 more lives in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday raising the toll to 37 even as evacuation of people to safer areas continued.
For the first time in the last 26 years, a shutter of the Cheruthoni Dam was opened on Thursday.
A statement issued by the US embassy in Srinagar on the visit said, "In September, ambassador Roemer visited Leh to deliver Rs 2.3 million worth of relief supplies to 400 rural families affected by the flash flood."
Forty-four persons have died in rain-related incidents over the past few days in Tamil Nadu even as the state government on Tuesday stepped up operations to move people living in low-lying areas to safer places.
The bodies of 13 people who were killed in a landslide at Plaupally in Koottikkal village (Kanjirapally Taluk, Kottayam District) were recovered.
