As cyclone Hudhud weakened and moved to Chhattisgarh, Odisha government on Monday braced for relief and rehabilitation in the affected southern districts where its damaged houses and uprooted trees even as heavy rainfall was expected to lash these areas.
The UK body's forecast comes after the UN agency World Meteorological Organisation warned that there is more than 50 per cent chance of El Nino happening this year. El Nino is caused by an abnormal warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean and its impact would cause droughts and floods.
Southwest monsoon hit Kerala on Friday marking the start of the rainy season, four days after its normal onset date.
A portion of the 15-foot tall private compound wall, totally wet due to heavy rains lashing the area for the past few days, fell on the adjoining tiled-roof houses in Nadur village.
India's GDP growth for the current fiscal is expected to slow down to 4.8 per cent, a UN report has said, warning that the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to result in significant adverse economic impacts globally. The UN 'Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2020: Towards sustainable economies' said that Covid-19 is having far-reaching economic and social consequences for the region, with strong cross-border spillover effects through trade, tourism and financial linkages.
After a making a slow progress, the southwest monsoon is expected to gain momentum and advance further into several parts of drought-hit Maharashtra and central India.
The weatherman has forecast widespread downpour in the Valley on Saturday and scattered precipitation on Sunday.
He assured fears of food shortages were far-fetched.
'How much rain fell on June 16 and 17 is NOT known because the area of Kedarnath is not covered by the Indian Meteorological Department,' M Shashidhar Reddy, vice chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority tells Sheela Bhatt. Because of this, the NDMA will not know "what exactly happened over there, in and around the Kedarnath temple."
The disaster management department said that the state government has urged the Indian Air Force to send a helicopter for air-dropping of food packets and other relief material in marooned areas.
The industry expects Iran to purchase at least 1 million tonnes this financial year
The met department forecast heavy rains in the southern part of the state as moderate rains lashed the entire state on Tuesday with Mount Abu recording a maximum rainfall of 124 mm.
Food packets have been distributed to 5,000 persons affected by rains.
The correlation between crop yield and expenditure on gold is positive.
There are no plans of creating artificial rain.
Indian economy grew 7.9 per cent in the March quarter.
The prices of oilseed, coarse cereals & vegetables could also be affected.
Floods in West Bengal have claimed over 40, with water levels rising arlamingly in East Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Howrah, Birbhum and Burdwan districts.
Prices of perishable items could spike in the near term.
Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rallies for Wednesday were cancelled.
Danger signal number five, hoisted at Gopalpur port, was replaced by signal number seven while signal number six had been hoisted at Puri and Paradip.
Rains from Monday night to Tuesday morning flooded major roads and drainage water entered houses in low-lying areas.
'Cyclone Nisarga will pass by Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Panvel and Navi Mumbai by a safe distance,' says Air Vice Marshal G P Sharma (retd), President, Meteorology and Climate Change, Skymet Weather Services,
The MeT department forecast very heavy rains over the next 48 hours in the mountainous areas of the state especially the disaster-prone Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts where torrential rains may trigger flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides asking people as well as authorities to be alert.
After missing its deadline, the monsoon is likely to hit the national capital and parts of north India by the end of the week, a private forecasting agency said on Monday.
More than half of India's farms lack irrigation and millions of farmers still depend on the vagaries of the monsoon rains
Bihar government has sounded alert in 28 flood-prone districts following a warning issued by Indian Meteorological Department in the wake of Cyclone Phailin that pounded Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
The Meteorological department says frequent rain spells are likely during the days of the first Test, beginning in Bangalore on Wednesday.
Raging wildfires have killed 74 people including small children in Greece, devouring homes and forests, in what officials are calling the worst fires the country has seen in a decade. Around 500 firefighters, aircraft and helicopters have been mobilised to tackle the fires, while a state of emergency was declared in western and eastern Attica. Take a look at the devastation the fires have brought on in Greece.
Total area sown till last Friday was 16.56 mn hectares, up 23%.
Officials however warned of a 4.81 metre high tide in afternoon coupled with heavy showers, which may cause flash floods in low-lying areas in the city.
"Conditions are favourable for the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala and its further advance into some more parts of south Arabian sea, remaining parts of Maldives - Comorin area, some parts of Tamil Nadu and some more parts of Bay of Bengal during the next 24 hours," said a statement by the Indian Meteorological Department.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Wednesday advised people to stay at home and schools to shut as a precautionary measure after heavy rains lashed Mumbai, Konkan and other areas of Maharashtra.
The air quality had turned 'severe' on Saturday evening with stubble burning accounting for 32 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution, but firecracker emissions and calm winds made the situation even worse.
The human toll in the floods and relentless rain across the country reached almost 200 by Thursday, even as thousands in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Odisha, West Bengal, and elsewhere were forced out of their homes into temporary shelters.
The headline HSBC Services Business Activity Index was at a 17-month peak of 54.4 in June rising from a modest 50.2 in May, HSBC said adding that 'the Modi wave has struck the service sector'.
The meteorological department has forecast more rains through the day and relative humidity at 100 per cent in Delhi.
There is increased risk for agriculture in India from the monsoon after drought ravaged the country in 2002, forecast the Summer Outlook report of Salomon Smith Barney made available Monday.
The warmest six years have all been since 2015, with 2016, 2019 and 2020 being the top three. The differences in average global temperatures among the three warmest years are indistinguishably small. The average global temperature in 2020 was about 14.9C, 1.2 ( 0.1) C above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) level.
