Monsoon rains have unleashed widespread destruction across India, claiming seven lives in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka due to landslides and floods, while heavy downpours have disrupted normal life and triggered red alerts in Maharashtra and other regions.
Heavy monsoon rains have severely impacted Mumbai and its surrounding areas, leading to landslides, suspension of train services, and at least 13 fatalities over the past few days. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway was also shut due to a concrete pillar collapse and waterlogging.
A heated exchange occurred in the Maharashtra assembly between Speaker Rahul Narwekar and Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray regarding the "act of God" defence for heavy rains and related incidents. The debate escalated to include climate change and alleged embezzlement at the Ram temple, leading to a brief adjournment.
Since the onset of monsoon on June 20 to date, rain-related incidents have claimed 23 lives in the state, according to the state emergency operation centre.
Relentless monsoon rains have submerged roads, homes and public spaces across various cities of Gujarat bringing normal life to a standstill.
Himachal Pradesh has been severely affected by flash floods, cloudbursts, and landslides since the monsoon began. At least 52 people have died, and search operations are underway for those missing.
We had asked rediff.com readers to send in photographs of the rain fury in Mumbai. Check out some of them here.
So far, 50 people have also been injured in these incidents, the government said in a statement.
Heavy monsoon rains have caused widespread havoc across Arunachal Pradesh, leading to floods, landslides, and significant damage to infrastructure. Rescue operations are underway in multiple districts, with casualties reported and many displaced. Connectivity remains severely disrupted, and authorities have issued warnings as more heavy rainfall is forecast.
Torrential rains have caused widespread devastation across several Indian states, leading to at least 11 deaths in Assam and Uttarakhand, pushing rivers above danger levels, and disrupting daily life with landslides, floods, and school closures. States like Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal, and Jammu & Kashmir are also grappling with the monsoon fury, while Meghalaya faces an unusual rainfall deficit.
A collection of breathtaking images of monsoon wreaking its havoc across the world
The state government has declared a holiday on Wednesday and Thursday for all private institutions, offices, non-essential services within Outer Ring Road here in view of rains.
The flooding in Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra has left people without homes and brought about destruction worth crores.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said efforts are on to rescue the 300 stranded people, and they could be airlifted as the weather clears. Power and water supply has been snapped in several areas.
Intense monsoon rains brought normal life to a standstill in several parts of eastern and central Rajasthan, flooding out roads, rail tracks, low-lying residential areas and hospitals and claiming seven lives since Sunday night.
A dog's ability to sense danger saved 60 lives in Mandi's Siyathi village when a landslide struck. The dog's barking alerted villagers to a crack in a wall, prompting them to evacuate before the landslide destroyed the village.
IMD data shows in the 24 hours between September 1 and 2, Haryana received 806 per cent more rainfall than normal, Punjab 759 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 510 per cent, Delhi 740 per cent, Chandigarh a staggering 1,638 per cent, and Rajasthan 193 per cent.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasts above-normal rainfall for India in September, following a monsoon season marked by heavy downpours and related disasters in various regions. The forecast indicates normal to above-normal rainfall for most areas, with some exceptions in the northeast, east, extreme south peninsular India, and parts of northwest India.
Heavy rains across India have led to widespread flooding, causing damage to infrastructure, displacement of residents, and disruption of normal life. Rescue efforts are underway in affected areas.
'What we are witnessing is not a freak incidence or a freak occurrence, but a new climate reality where warming oceans, monsoon variability and local geography are combining to produce extreme events.'
The rain and flood situation in northeastern states remained grim on Tuesday, with lakhs people affected in Assam, Mizoram and Manipur, even as the meteorological department predicted more rain in several parts of the region.
Heavy rains have battered Himachal Pradesh since Sunday, triggering landslides in Shimla's Summer Hill, Krishna Nagar and Fagli.
The non-stop downpour washed the weekend and Tuesday's Eid holiday out. Waterlogged roads kept most people in indoors. But some of our readers got adventurous and stepped out to capture the monsoon mania.
The chief minister and his wife Kamlesh Thakur presented a cheque of Rs 51 lakh to chief secretary Prabodh Saxena at their official residence in Shimla.
Five people were killed and over 45 are missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh, where rain washed away many houses, bridges and roads, the officials said on Thursday.
Since the onset of the monsoon on June 24, 217 persons have died in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh.
Villages are flooded, roads have washed away and railway tracks have submerged under the rising waters.
In Gujarat, where the monsoon fury subsided, twelve deaths were reported since Wednesday evening. Ten people died in Maharashra and two in Kerala.
Road, rail and air services were affected due to the first heavy rainfall of this season.
'The last time we had such a late withdrawal of monsoon was in 1960 or so.'
As many as 42 highly decomposed bodies, including 18 from various places.
The current spell of rain was triggered by systems of low pressure formed along Kerala and Tamil Nadu coasts, Indian Meteorological Department sources said in Thiruvananthapuram. Torrential rains have been pounding the capital city and suburbs since Friday night, bringing roads under knee-deep water in busy Thampanur, Pazhavangadi and East Fort.
The situation in the state was 'extremely grave', said Vijayan, who spoke to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Home minister, Rajnath Singh, this morning seeking more central assistance for relief operations.
Terming the recent monsoon fury in Maharashtra as a national calamity, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said tsunami aid norms would be made applicable for relief and rehabilitation in the rain ravaged state.
A well-marked low pressure over Bay of Bengal and Indian ocean is likely to concentrate into a depression in the next 24 hours, and bring heavy rainfall to coastal Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Puducherry from December 1, MeT office said on Tuesday.
The bodies of three labourers were on Saturday pulled from the rubble of a wall that collapsed at a construction site in the Vasant Vihar area in New Delhi amid heavy rain, officials said.
