A deep depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a cyclonic storm, named Remal, on Saturday evening and is likely to turn severe before making landfall between the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh on Sunday midnight, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The flood situation affected nearly 26.5 lakh people across 28 districts.
The Centre said that there was no legal provision to declare a disaster as a national calamity, amid demands for declaring the floods as a national disaster.
The Army, the National Disaster Response Force, police and the fire force along with the locals began rescue operations on Sunday morning at Koottickal and Kokkayar panchayats where over a dozen people are listed to be missing due to numerous landslides accompanied by heavy downpour since Saturday.
While rain intensity reduced on Tuesday compared to a day ago, affecting mainly districts in the Saurashtra region, administration carried out rescue and relief operations on a large scale, shifting thousands of people to shelters.
The state government sounded a high alert in four coastal district of Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Puri in view of the flood which has claimed nine lives so far. Evacuation operations has been launched on a big scale to shift the residents of low-lying areas to the safer places.
The city has been witnessing heavy rains since Tuesday night, resulting in water logging in many areas.
Maruti Suzuki India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai Motor and luxury car maker Audi have extended support to customers in cyclone and flood affected regions of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. In a statement, Maruti Suzuki India said it has collaborated with its dealer partners and made several arrangements at its workshops. As soon as the news about the cyclone 'Michaung' was reported, the company proactively sent out 7 lakh SMS alerts containing precautionary steps to its customers to ensure that even before the cyclone hits, customers could take precautionary measures to safeguard their cars against potential damage, it said in a statement.
The water level rose above the danger mark in Haridwar and Delhi and the level at Bhakra dam was a foot above the permissible mark.
The flood situation in Assam has turned for better since Thursday with the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries showing a receding trend. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday said that administration in flood-hit districts had been kept on alert, though flood waters were already receding in most parts of the state.
After days of incessant rains, the situation improved in many parts of Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra on Tuesday with water receding in affected areas.
China also said it will continue to share the flood data with India.
The landfall process of the severe cyclonic storm Dana was complete on Friday morning and the system took at least eight and half hours to enter the landmass, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
'The rivers that caused the maximum problem were the ones that had dams built on them.'
Sixteen deaths in rain and flood-related incidents have been reported from western Maharashtra in the last seven days, while the toll in Karnataka rose to five since Sunday.
A massive landslide in western Nepal has blocked a river that also flows through India, forcing thousands of people to flee to safety and triggering fears of a flood, officials said on Sunday.
Western Railway stated that local train services were running normally on Monday morning, however, commuters claimed trains were running late by 5 to 10 minutes.
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.
West Bengal: Flood situation improves, alert still on
Meanwhile, flight operations from the Kochi international airport will resume at 12 noon on Sunday, an airport official said.
This is the first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal this pre-monsoon season.
India suffered a $3 billion loss to its economy from severe rainfall and flooding in November and early December.
Alarmed over the worsening flood situation in parts of the state, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati summoned her officials to take stock of the prevailing position in the 21 flood-affected districts of India's most populous state. Sounding an alert, the chief minister has issued directives to all concerned district magistrates to ensure timely relief to the 16.5 million flood-affected population.
The Indian Air Force on Friday pressed its choppers into service and rescued 14 people caught in flash-floods in Jammu district.
Shutters of at least 22 reservoirs in the state have been opened to drain out excess water.
When the landslide hit, Sruthi's house was washed away, along with its inhabitants. She lost her entire family and some relatives. All she had left for a close confidante was her fiance Jenson. Days after the landslide and the loss of her family, Jenson died in a road accident that also left Sruthi with serious injuries. News of the accident and Sruthi's backdrop as the lone surviving member of a family wiped out in the July landslide, was picked up by the media, and people rushed to help.
Five people, including a minor girl, died and as many injured in separate incidents during heavy rains in Kullu, Kangra and Chamba districts of Himachal Pradesh.
Passive consumption of social media content, like mindlessly scrolling through feeds without engaging with them, has been linked to increased envy and decreased life satisfaction, cautions Dr Maithili Tambe.
Incessant rains unleashed more death and destruction on Monday in parts of north India, with 37 people killed in landslides and other rain-related incidents in the last two days even as the Army and NDRF teams stepped in to intensify the relief and rescue operations.
The flood situation in Assam remained grim on Wednesday with a railway track washed away in Lakhimpur district disrupting railway traffic with Arunachal Pradesh.
With the rise in level of the Ganga, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed apprehension of further rise in water level by Monday in view of release of water from Bansagar dam as flood-like situation prevailed in the state.
In a statement, it said 198 properties in the state were partially damaged and 30 houses completely destroyed in the rains from July 31 to till date.
Heavy rainfall in the upper end of Hati river has affected hydro power generation at Indravati power station.
"We are apprehending a major flood in the Mahanadi system as a huge volume of water is heading downstream," Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy told reporters in Bhubhaneshwar.
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.
A 22-year-old person was killed and another one injured on Thursday after a tree fell on their hut in Mumbai as moderate to heavy rains lashed the city and its suburbs in the last 24 hours, officials said.
Sixty-eight homes have been destroyed. Sri Lankan capital Colombo was the worst hit with many roads submerged.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal over phone and discussed about the prevailing condition on Monday.
'Did the government learn any lesson from the disasters of 2008, 1987, 1975?' 'Certainly not!' 'They are making people believe that the 2017 flood was unexpected, so no preventive effort towards reducing the loss of human lives was to be expected from the government,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
As Kerala gets into the festive mood, police are maintaining tight vigil with the army receiving information that there may be a terror attack in southern parts of the country.
