Twenty-four more people were killed on Saturday as floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains inundated northern Pakistan, raising the overall death toll in the flooding to 46.
It is a complete mayhem in West Bengal, Manipur and Odisha with more than 60 dead
Swarms of immature pink locusts and adult yellow locusts are currrently active. Not only are fresh locusts swarms expected to arrive in the coming weeks, but even those already present in India have mated and are breeding new offspring.
In the first of a two-part series, Business Standard examines the impact of the upcoming summer on agriculture and drinking water supply.
Shutters of at least 22 reservoirs in the state have been opened to drain out excess water.
The IMD has said temperatures in most parts of the country from March to May would be 'above normal'.
Nearly 50 villages in the district have been cut-off from the tehsil headquarters and two bridges remained submerged as heavy rains continued to lash Thane on Wednesday.
'At the first sign of rain, Mumbai's infrastructure begins crumbling.' 'The monsoon is the true test of the durability and effectiveness of any system.' 'What most don't realise is that the city is dead,' mourns N Suresh.
Nearly 200 people have been killed in floods and rain-related incidents in Pakistan with four days of incessant showers, officials said on Monday.
'Not only have we rescued 1,700 fishermen but on the morning of November 30, we evacuated 1,044 fishing folk, otherwise the missing numbers would have been much higher.'
'It is surprising Mumbaikars take it all in their stride, but it has nothing to do with the crappy spirit of Mumbai that television channels extol every time a tragedy hits us, but all to do with the compulsion of stepping out to earn one's daily roti and dal,' says N Suresh.
Modi said search operations to trace the missing fishermen in Kerala and Tamil Nadu would continue and expressed hope that all of them would come back home before Christmas.
'We have instructed all our officials to take complaints of water shortage seriously and attend to it immediately.'
After causing widespread damage in northern Punjab in Pakistan, the devastating floods now threaten the historic city of Multan and its famous shrines, even as authorities struggle to save the city.
Darryl D' Monte, the distinguished enviromental journalist, discusses how the media covers floods in Mumbai or Texas, but ignores Assam or Bangladesh.
The Mumbai civic body asked all schools to remain shut and to ensure that the students were sent back home safely.
The district administration has pressed men and machinery for relief and rescue operations, he said.
35 others have been injured in the landslides and flashfloods triggered by torrential rains.
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.
Extensive anthropogenic interference, as part of developmental activities, is a significant factor that increases this hazard manifold. As a result, the landscape in the Himalayan, north-eastern regions and many other regions of India are highly susceptible to reoccurrence of landslides, says Dr Nitish Priyadarshi.
Experts say poor city planning and inefficient administration turned an unusually high rainfall into a disaster.
Incessant rains continued to lash Mumbai city and neighbouring districts on Saturday, throwing normal life out of gear even as weathermen predicted heavy showers across the state for Sunday.
The two Indian cities were chosen among 331 applications from cities around the world for 100RC network, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, New York.
A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar demanded central assistance of Rs 12,000 crore to tide over the drought in 33 of the 38 districts in the state, opposition leaders appeared keener to politicise the issue by portaying themselves as champions of millions of drought-hit farmers.
At least 312 people have died and over two million affected due to rains and devastating floods in Pakistan, even as swelling waters continued to ravage the country's southern Punjab province, officials said on Monday.
Nepal has been hit by heavy rainfall since Thursday. More than 25 districts and 10,385 households have been affected.
A photograph of Kumar snapped while scurrying across the bridge with the child two days ago, has gone viral on the social media with people showering praise on him.
A National Disaster Relief Force team was also camping in the district. Relief camps have been set up at 83 places to accommodate flood victims, officials said.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated to safer places in eastern Rajasthan after heavy rainfall over the past two days led to a flood-like situation in the region and severed road connectivity to many areas.
In an unprecedented measure, the Maharashtra government requested defence officials to arrange airlift of the stranded passengers of the 17412 Mahalaxmi Express.
Mumbai received 231.4 mm rain in the last 24 hours, while Thane received 229.81 mm.
'The rivers that caused the maximum problem were the ones that had dams built on them.'
Yadav asked the centre to send tankers in large numbers to the parched Bundelkhand region for supply of water from dams and canals there.
DroughtThe Centre is expected to discuss issues related to drought management and also review the progress of major central schemes like soil health cards, irrigation programmes
'The prime minister expressed concern and assured all possible help to the state,' CMO said.
'The worst affected is the electricity supply. A huge number of poles, some 6,000 to 8,000 poles have been damaged completely. That will take a lot of time for restoration.'
As part of the fund mobilisation move, the cabinet decided to seek financial aid from abroad through non-resident Keralites, from major cities in the country and also from educational institutions in Kerala.
The death toll is Jammu and Kashmir mounts to nearly 200 and thousands still wait to be evacuated.
'Other countries go out on a limb to save even a single life.' 'What to talk of civilian accidents and disasters, even our military does not have a priority for Combat Search and Rescue,' says Group Captain P I Muralidharan (retd).
For the first time in the last 26 years, a shutter of the Cheruthoni Dam was opened on Thursday.
