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.
In Rajasthan, 13 deaths related to rain and storm were reported over the last two days while at least 12 people were killed due to lightning strikes in Jharkhand during the same period, officials said.
Cyclonic storm Hudhud will turn take a 'very severe' turn in the next 12 hours, bringing with itself very heavy rainfall and gusty winds as it inches closer to the coast, the MeT department has said.
Spurred by cyclone Remal, the southwest monsoon set in over the Kerala coast and parts of the northeast on Thursday, a day earlier than forecast by the weather office.
The Met office also warned of strong winds with speeds reaching 80 and 90 kmph along the north Tamil Nadu coast.\n
One person was killed in a landslide caused by heavy rains in Vijayawada city but no other casualties have been reported from elsewhere so far, according to sources in the State Disaster Management Authority.
All educational institutions in Shimla and Kullu districts will remain closed on Monday as heavy to extremely heavy rains continue to lash the state, district officials said.
The wreckage of the Pepsu Roadways Transport Corporation bus was found 300 metres down from the green tax barrier of the Allo (potato) ground in the middle of the Beas river in Manali on Saturday and a search is on for the 11 passengers.
The location of the landfall is north of Dhamra and south of Bahanaga, close to Bahanaga block, on the coast, around 50 km of Balasore, he said.
The India Meteorological Department said the southwest monsoon further advanced into Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmiri, some parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan on June 30.
Swirling waters inundated 12 districts in the state.
Six teams of the National Disaster Response Force are being deployed in four coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh as cyclonic storm 'Helen' is expected to cross the Bay of Bengal coast near Kavali on Thursday evening.
Cracks appeared on the ground and houses in the village following heavy rain that hit various parts of Uttarakhand last month, killing people and damaging infrastructure.
The state government has released Rs 6 crore for flood relief operations in all the 16 districts of the state.
The cyclone would bring light to moderate rains at most places and 'heavy to very heavy downpour' at some places on November 6.
Delhiites woke up to the sound of thunder and lightning this morning and, according to the weather department, the city recorded 117.9 mm rainfall from 5:30 AM to 2.30 PM.
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.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the rescue mission in the landslide-hit Mundakkai region of Wayanad could take a few more days, and appointed a cabinet sub-committee of four ministers to coordinate the rescue efforts.
Torrential rains pounded the tiny Himalayan state of Sikkim and the tea growing region of North Bengal, causing landslides that cut off National Highway-10, the main road linking Gangtok with the rest of the country.
Heavy showers lashed New Delhi breaking a seven-decade record for highest rainfall in a single day in February and triggering massive traffic jams due to waterlogging across the city on Tuesday.
In Delhi, Safdarjung, the base station for the national capital, recorded 44.2 degrees Celsius, while Mungeshpur observatory in northwest Delhi, reported 47.3 degrees Celsius.
The Yamuna river in Delhi swelled to the highest recorded level in 10 years on Tuesday and is expected to rise further, officials said on Tuesday.
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
Heavy rainfall in the upper end of Hati river has affected hydro power generation at Indravati power station.
Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which operates India's largest airport, dismissed the expert committee report as "inaccurate", claiming it relied on "probabilities, hypothesis, and conjectures" rather than empirical data or complete documentation.
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.
'There's also a possibility of the cyclonic system changing its course, thus avoiding a landfall in Odisha'
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 country witnessed the rainiest day of this winter with almost all parts receiving showers, the weatherman said, attributing it to a series of weather conditions.
'There will not be very heavy rain.' 'Moderate showers will be there and winds will be, say, somewhere between 20 and 40 km/hr, gusting to 35 km/hr.'
The weather system remained practically stationary during the last six hours and weakened to a depression, and is likely to turn into a well-marked low pressure area during the next 12 hours, it said in a bulletin.
Better living conditions must be an integral part of all political campaigns. But this will only happen if the public pressures the political class to understand the irreversibility of climate change and make the environment a crucial part of their manifestos.
