As incessant rains lashed Mumbai and Maharashtra, life was thrown out of gear with delay in train and flight services causing great inconvenience to passengers.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who undertook an aerial survey of rain ravaged areas of Idukki and Wayanad, said Kerala was in the midst of an unprecedented flood havoc and the calamity has caused "immeasurable misery and devastation."
Ernakulam district authorities on Tuesday said 350 cumecs of the water from Idamalayar, which reached Periyar river but there was no considerable rise in the water-level.
Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has warned about the possibilities of landslides in the hilly areas already hit by extremely heavy rainfall in the past few days and directed people living in the region and government authorities to be vigilant.
Army and air force contingents have been rushed in to assist in relief and rescue operations.
Teams of the NDRF have reached several places in Tamil Nadu and Kerala as the two states brace themselves for cyclone Burevi.
The death toll in the avalanche triggered by the bursting of a glacier in Chamoli has gone up to 58 as a total of 11 bodies are recovered from the Tapovan tunnel, whereas 146 people are still missing, said Uttarakhand Police on Tuesday.
The picturesque landscape of Pettimudi was flattened into a rough patch of boulders and mud with parts of asbestos and tin sheets seen scattered around.
Major rivers in Ratnagiri district, including Jagbudi, Vashishti, Kodavali, Shastri, Bav are flowing above the danger level. As a result, Khed, Chiplun, Lanja, Rajapur, Sangameshwar towns and nearby areas have been affected and residents are being shifted to safer places.
The flooding in Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra has left people without homes and brought about destruction worth crores.
Heavy to very heavy rains are expected in Maharashtra, Gujarat, west Madhya Pradesh and Goa in the next couple of days, the India Meteorological Department said.
The IMD has issued an orange alert for Mumbai, warning of very heavy rains at isolated places with strong winds on Monday as the very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae is likely to pass close to the Mumbai coast towards Gujarat.
Nearly 6,000 passengers were stranded as train services on the Konkan Railway route in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district were suspended on Thursday after a river overflowed following heavy rains, while incessant downpour badly hit road and rail traffic in several parts of the state, including around Mumbai, as authorities called in NDRF to help the administration in rescue efforts.
Gusty winds and heavy rains lashed several parts of Goa on Sunday morning due to cyclonic storm Tauktae, uprooting electric poles and affecting power supply in many parts of the coastal state, officials said.
Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall near Jakhau Port in Gujarat on Thursday evening with a wind speed of 115-125 kmph gusting to 140 kmph as heavy rains lashed the coastal region, where several areas plunged into darkness due to power cuts and a large number of trees, electric poles and hoardings got uprooted.
'When we talk of disaster, it is a combination of hazard and vulnerability.' 'If we reduce vulnerability, it will remain a hazard.'
The incident is said to have occurred in the wee hours when a huge mound of earth fell on the 'row houses' and two children and five women were among the deceased, most of whom were plantation workers from neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
The IMD has predicted heavy rainfall over Karnataka and Kerala for the next few days.
Inclement weather badly hampered cremation of bodies and removal of debris at Kedarnath on Friday besides affecting distribution of relief in over 200 segregated villages where people have lost their homes and are faced with acute foodgrain shortage.
As many as 51 'Govindas' were injured in Mumbai.
For the first time in the last 26 years, a shutter of the Cheruthoni Dam was opened on Thursday.
The state government has already evacuated more than 30,000 people across the state after rain water flooded their habitats.
The IMD has also issued a red-coded warning alert to the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.
The India Meteorological Department said Delhi recorded 139 mm of rainfall, the highest one-day rain for August in at least 13 years.
The sacred portals of Badrinath shrine in Garhwal Himalayas were reopened on Monday after a gap of six months amid chants of vedic hymns and elaborate rituals.
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.
The National Disaster Response Force, the Air Force and teams of other agencies have been pressed into service and they have so far rescued 214 stranded people. Over 6,200 people in the region have been shifted to safer places. Ten state highways and many roads have also been damaged.
Chief Minister Mayawati conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas after which western Uttar Pradesh was declared a disaster-hit zone. The chief minister also sought a flood relief package of Rs 2000 crore from the Centre.
Mumbai recorded over 250 mm of rain in just three hours (between midnight and 3 am), touching 305 mm by 7 am on Sunday, a meteorologist said.
The Southern Naval command on Wednesday called off its 14-day long rescue operations in flood-hit Kerala, saying there were no more requests for evacuation as waters receding in affected areas.
The MeT department forecast very heavy rains over the next 48 hours in the mountainous areas of the state especially the disaster-prone Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts where torrential rains may trigger flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides asking people as well as authorities to be alert.
Rains claim 11 lives in Gujarat, people shifted in Nashik, Goa
The West Bengal government has taken all precautionary measures to deal with Cyclone Yaas, likely to hit the state on May 26, and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will stay at a control room set up for the purpose to monitor the situation, officials said.
The CM has asked all the 51 district collectors to be alert and agile to deal with the flood situation and extend immediate help to the people in distress.
The experts said that climate change is not only raising temperatures and making India's heatwaves hotter, but also changing weather patterns that further drive dangerous weather extremes.
Over 20,000 people were evacuated to safer places in these three districts. State capital Mumbai too witnessed water-logging in many areas after overnight rains on Thursday.
'What's being predicted for Mumbai is not so different from what Kolkata experienced.' 'People should definitely be alert and aware and follow the advice of the disaster managers.'
Around six lakh people have been housed in over 2000 relief camps in the two states.
The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a warning about havoc rainfall or a cloud burst hitting Bihar's flood-affected districts in the next 24 to 48 hours, officials said on Sunday.
The India Meteorological Department said rainfall would be accompanied by gale wind speed reaching 140 to 150 kmph and gusting to 165 kmph along and off Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coasts.
