Mumbai has never seen a Ganesh immersion like this!
Authorities have sounded red alert in three districts of Kerala on May 14 and five districts on May 15, indicating the possibility of extremely heavy rains under the influence of a low pressure area over the Arabian Sea.
By now, monsoon should have reached the central India, including parts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, but it is yet to reach Maharashtra.
Villpuram district in north Tamil Nadu continued to reel under unprecedented flooding on Monday following extremely heavy rainfall, virtually blocking access to villages and residential colonies as bridges and roads overflowed, inundating huge acreage of standing crops and leaving passengers stranded as rail and road traffic was hit.
Kerala has been receiving rainfall since Saturday and 10 out of the 14 weather monitoring stations in the state have received more than 2.5 mm rains.
Mumbai will have to wait for a few more days for monsoon showers.
On May 15, the weather office had announced the onset of monsoon over Kerala by May 31.
No lives were lost after cyclone Biparjoy made landfall. Preparations for Biparjoy were not only extensive, they were also telecast far and wide. Ahead of the cyclone's landfall, Shyam G Menon observes there was considerable publicity on how much the government was geared up to face the storm and its aftermath.
'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.'
Palghar, Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri could witness thunderstorm activity, lightning, moderate rain and gusty storm over the next two days.
'Had Haji Pir and/or Skardu been taken, the message would have gone out not just to General Asim Munir and his cohort in the Pakistan army but to the Pakistani people that every terrorist incident in India would lead to substantial loss of territory in PoK.'
The southwest monsoon is likely to arrive over Kerala on May 31, a day earlier than its normal onset date, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The World Meteorological Organisation/Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Panel on Tropical Cyclones, at its twenty-seventh session held in 2000 in Muscat, Oman, agreed to assign names to the tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
The depression formed over Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea would turn into a cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours and reach near the Gujarat coast on the morning of May 18, officials said.
Gujarat state administration is preparing to face 'Cyclone Nilofar', which has developed in the Arabian Sea and is likely to move towards the state's coast, Gujarat meteorological department said.
The home minister held a video conference with Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra -- Vijay Rupani and Uddhav Thackeray respectively -- and Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Praful Patel, and assured them all central help in view of the impending cyclone, an official statement said in New Delhi.
The Web portal of the Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece, published an article (withdrawn later) that the Christian community holds many acres of land, far more than Waqf property.'
India was continuously keeping an eye on the movement of the Pakistani military but after Indian Air Force hit the Jaish terrorist factory in Balakot, one of the most advanced Pakistani Agosta-class submarines - PNS Saad - vanished from the Pakistani waters, a senior government source said.
A cyclonic circulation lies over the southeast Bay of Bengal and the adjoining south Andaman Sea extending up to middle tropospheric levels. Under its influence, a low pressure area is very likely to form over the southeast Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood during the next 24 hours.
The school was run on strict Gandhian lines, with stress on students doing things themselves. Physical comforts were minimal, in keeping with the relatively backward geographical area. But it had a staff of teachers dedicated to educating their students, not just imparting them book-learning, remembers Shreekant Sambrani.
The onset of the southwest monsoon is being keenly watched this year as it may provide an early sign regarding its progress over the Indian subcontinent, particularly when El Nio is expected to rear its head during the latter half of the season.
Gale-force winds, heavy rainfall and high tidal waves swept the coastal belts of Maharashtra and Goa as Cyclone Tauktae hurtled northwards towards Gujarat.
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.
The launching ceremony for the first warship was held at the Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai on Sunday. Pakistan-China defence ties turn a new chapter with the launch of the first ship of Type-054 class frigate, Pakistan's state-run APP news agency reported.
The cyclone is likely to bring heavy rainfall in its wake in parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa. The light showers/drizzle in parts of Mumbai city, its suburbs and neighbouring districts of Thane and Palghar on Monday morning brought some respite to people from the sweltering heat and humidity.
Addressing a press conference virtually, India Meteorological Department Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said September was likely to witness normal rainfall in the range of 91-109 per cent of the long period average of 167.9 mm.
Weather scientists attribute the early onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala to the influence of the remnants of cyclone Asani that triggered the cross-equatorial flow, a key factor for the seasonal rains.
The storm would continue to move north-northwestwards, intensify further and reach north Bay of Bengal near West Bengal and the adjoining north Odisha and Bangladesh coasts by the morning of May 26
The DG said the maximum of four teams of the NDRF have been positioned in Kutch district and the Gujarat government has done an in-depth evacuation exercise as part of which fishing boats have been anchored, big ships have been sent to the high seas so that they are not affected by the tidal waves, more than 4,000 hoarding have been taken down so that they don't become deadly flying objects as strong winds blow.
'He asserted in his usual jovial style that he was not an MBA like his audience at IIM-Ahmedabad but perhaps had an even better business degree: MBB'. 'He went on to explain to his perplexed, blue chip B-School audience that MBB stood for "Marwadi by birth"!' Shivanand Kanavi salutes Shashi Ruia, co-founder of the Essar group who passed into the ages on November 25, 2024 in Mumbai.
'We will have to face the effects of climate change for generations to come!'
An NDRF team has a strength of about 45 personnel and each unit is equipped with tree and pole cutters, communication gadgets, inflatable boats and a small basic medical unit.
The rains were being caused due to a cyclonic circulation lying over north east Arabian sea and adjoining Saurashtra and Kutch regions, the IMD said in its bulletin.
While the city received some showers late Wednesday night, it remained almost dry on Thursday.
The US remained "watchful" over developments along India's frontier with China as it cannot take its eyes off the regional security issues, a senior American official said on Wednesday against the backdrop of the over 29-month border standoff in eastern Ladakh that has significantly frayed ties between the two neighbours.
A cyclone alert has been sounded across north Maharashtra and south Gujarat, besides coastal areas, by the Meteorological Department, in the wake of a deep depression over the Arabian Sea.The bulletin said the deep depression (system) is likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm.The Met office has advised fishermen not to venture out to sea in Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat.It warned that Mumbai and Thane districts will receive very heavy rains.
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An El Nino is a temporary change in the climate of the Pacific Ocean, in the region around the equator.
Mumbai and certain adjoining areas experienced pre-monsoon showers, sources said on Sunday.
The ashes of late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray were on Friday immersed in the Arabian Sea by his son and party executive president Uddhav Thackeray.
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