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.
CM Naveen Patnaik met Home Minister Shivraj Patil and submitted a memorandum for financial help.The state has also urged the Centre to immediately release at least 12,000 kilo litre of kerosene to be distributed among the 40 lakh affected people.
The family of Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash kept news of a devastating flood in his home state of Kerala away from him so it did not affect his Asian Games performance, the 24-year-old told Reuters on Tuesday.
The worst affected districts are Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Bongaigaon, Jorhat, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, Darrang, Morigaon and Sonitpur
Central Water Commission sources said the situation continued to be grim following incessant rains in the catchment areas of these rivers.
For the Stalin government to win back the confidence of voters ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, post-flooding restoration works, their speed and efficacy would be closely watched, and not just by the political Opposition, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Rainstorms and rain over the past 48 hours has taken a heavy toll of human life and property in Uttar Pradesh. With over 100 deaths over the weekend, this monsoon's toll on account of the fury of rain and floods has gone up to nearly 1,080. Of these only 138 had met their end due to drowning, while the rest had perished on account of the fury of the rain.
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.
Incessant rains pouring over parts of North India since the past few days led to more areas being marooned by swollen rivers as the toll crossed 100 in the region, with 14 more deaths in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. Heavy rains continued to batter Uttar Pradesh, where 14 more people perished in rain-related incidents, taking the toll this season to 270 in the state. Over 1,000 villages, mostly in western UP.
Orissa government on Wednesday assessed the loss of about Rs 2,121 crore due to the recent floods which killed at least 41 persons and damaged over one lakh houses even as people in 198 villages continued to remain marooned for the last fortnight.
Rains on Friday continued to batter several parts of Tamil Nadu under the influence of an active North-East monsoon as the toll in rain-related incidents in the state stood at 48.
The water had almost touched the roads and had eroded a portion of the footpath along the Fancy Bazaar, city's business centre, official sources said.
The distribution of relief materials was badly hit due to heavy rains
The Batote-Doda-Kishtwar National Highway was closed due to huge boulders at Thathri market triggered by the cloudburst.
The flood situation in Bihar is showing signs of improvement after the swollen rivers started receding on Friday. For nearly a week major rivers like Ganga had wreaked havoc in the state.
Modi also announced Rs 2 lakh aid to the kin of those who died in the deluge.
To deal with the chaos at toll plazas arising out of the government's junking Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the government has suspended fee collection on all booths at National Highways till the midnight of November 11.
The toll due to floods in Assam's state capital rose to 11 on Saturday when one person was electrocuted even as the torrential rains ceased.
The toll rises to 292; major rivers are still in spate
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar conducted aerial survey of 12 inundated districts to take stock of the situation arising out of flood which has claimed 190 lives so far in Bihar.
At least 103 people were killed and another 370 injured when flash floods triggered by torrential rains struck this Himalayan town in Ladakh region, northeast of Jammu and Kashmir, leaving a trail of death and destruction.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took stock of the flood situation in Tamil Nadu and discussed it with his cabinet colleagues, including the Home and Finance ministers.
The flood situation in Bihar showed signs of improvement with major rivers maintaining a receding trend, even as four more deaths were reported from Darbhanga district, taking the total toll to 81.
The death toll from the Uttarakhand glacier disaster rose to 31 with five more bodies being recovered, officials said on Tuesday as multiple agencies raced against time to reach about 30 workers trapped inside a tunnel in a power project site and 175 people remained missing.
An accurate early warning system that correlates rainfall and the potential for landslides. That is the imperative, say experts as rains create havoc in hills across India and the toll mounts in Kerala's Wayanad slopes where landslides buried entire homesteads and possibly hundreds of people.
But the overall situation witnessed further improvement on Thursday as levels of major rivers receded.
The flood situation in Assam worsened on Saturday with four more deaths reported and over 6.5 lakh people being affected in more than 1,400 villages due to incessant rains across the state.
Fresh rains triggered by a low pressure compounded the miseries of flood victims in Odisha.
Six persons drowned in flood-hit areas of Uttar Pradesh where major rivers continued to flow above the danger mark, official sources said on Tuesday. "Since Monday afternoon, six persons, including three children, an infant and a teenager died due to drowning in different parts of Hardoi, taking the toll in rain-related incidents in the district to 16," they said. The Army and administration were carrying out rescue and relief operations.
Major rivers, though receding, continued to flow above the danger mark at several places, a Central Water Commission release said.
The situation in Karimganj, Cachar, Morigaon, Nagaon and Dhubri remains grim with the rivers still flowing above the danger level, sources said in Guwahati.
Several rivers burst their banks near the southwestern city of Mocoa, 500 km southwest of Bogota, in the early hours of Saturday, sending water, mud and debris crashing down streets and into houses as people slept.
Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, has described flood-hit Pakistan as going through an experience that was far worse than the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the October 8, 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the January 13, 2010 Haiti earthquake.
A flood alert was sounded on Thursday in Srinagar city as River Jhelum was flowing four feet above the danger mark after incessant rain, while 23 villages have been inundated by floods in south Kashmir districts of Anantnag and Kulgam.
Incessant rains since Saturday evening have triggered panic and fears of fresh floods in Kashmir
According to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, there would be heavy rain for the next 24 hours in coastal areas, in the northern and in the interior parts of the south.
The victim was a farmer apparently taking part in the protest in the district's Longowal area, where police were trying to stop protesters from blocking a national highway and a toll plaza, officials said.
The weather office predicted more rains for the state during the next two days.
