Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said in a statement that 24 more deaths have been reported in the past few days, taking the death toll in rain-related incidents like drowning and wall-collapse to 111.
The three districts are among over a dozen in the state that were lashed by incessant rain for close to 48 hours bringing normal business to a grinding halt and disrupting rail and road traffic in most places.
Ruling out the possibility of Naxals shooting down the helicopter of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Union Minister M M Pallam Raju on Thursday said the mishap that claimed Reddy's life took place due to bad weather."The possibility of a Naxal strike on the chief minister's helicopter is ruled out completely. It was an accident due to bad weather. There is no hand of Naxalites," Minister of State for Defence Raju said.
The Santacruz weather station in suburban Mumbai recorded a whopping 242 mm rainfall in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 am Thursday.
The annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, undertaken by hundreds of pilgrims involving circumambulation of Mount Kailash and Mansarovar Lake in Tibet, will commence in the middle of this year amid tight security.
Over 40 people died in rain-related incidents, majority of them in Uttar Pradesh, while incessant rainfall in Bihar left the streets of state capital Patna and other areas waterlogged and residences of at least two ministers marooned.
'When I stepped on Indian soil, I lay down on the ground and kissed my homeland.'
The death of Manoj Thakre, 48, came to light three days after another BJP leader was shot dead in Mandsaur, prompting the party to claim that its leaders were being targeted.
The navy had so far maintained that there were 273 persons on board the barge but an official on Wednesday evening said that the company which operated it has informed that there were 261 personnel on board the ill-fated barge.
The window of one of the coaches of the Rs 100-crore train was damaged.
A MiG-21 Bison of the IAF, piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was downed during a dogfight between India and Pakistan sides on February 27 after the Balakot airstrike
'The Chinese are only about 160-170 km behind.' 'It will not take much time for them to bring their troops back, considering that they have better infrastructure -- and the weather is now favourable.' 'They can move in much faster as the terrain favours them.'
The Boeing aircraft EK530 with 350 passengers and 14 crewmembers on board encountered a weather cloud near Bangalore. A short period of heavy turbulence prior to descent into India caused minor injuries to about 20 persons, Emirates said in a statement.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the 24-hour average concentration of lung-damaging fine particles known as PM2.5 in Delhi-NCR shot up from 243 micrograms per cubic metre at 6 pm on Thursday (Diwali day) to 410 micrograms per cubic metre at 9 am on Friday, around seven times the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre.
The overall AQI deteriorated further and touched the 268 mark, which falls in the poor category.
The driver and the conductor of a bus that got stuck at the Minto Bridge underpass due to waterlogging were rescued by fire department personnel, officials said.
Heavy rains lashing Mumbai since Sunday have thrown rail, air and road traffic out of gear, with several trains and flights being cancelled. With IMD forecast of heavy rains for Tuesday, the authorities declared a holiday in the city and adjoining regions, asking people to avoid stepping out of their houses.
The airline is currently working to normalise its operations with the support of its pilots and cabin crew and expects to be on track by the end of this week, it said.
'It is a miracle how a soldier handles the lack of oxygen, stands his post and also confronts the Chinese at 14,000 feet where survival itself is a challenge.'
An Air India aircraft, with 168 people on board, suffered a tyre burst on landing at the airport in Jaipur on Sunday night after being diverted from Delhi due to bad weather.
Parts of south, east and northeast India are expected to get some relief from the blistering heat, with the onset of monsoon expected to take place over Kerala on Saturday.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced Rs 10,000 as immediate relief to each flood-hit household in Hyderabad, lashed by incessant rains since last week, besides an assistance of Rs 1 lakh each to those whose houses were completely destroyed and Rs 50,000 for the partially damaged.
12 persons have so far been rescued from the sea. Nine sailors are still listed as missing.
Private weather agency Skymet said Mumbai is at 'serious risk of flooding' between July 3 and 5.
In the first of a two-part series, Business Standard examines the impact of the upcoming summer on agriculture and drinking water supply.
'It's a classic conflict between the old and the new BJP. The new BJP is made up of turncoats and the old of veterans who slogged for decades when the BJP barely existed in West Bengal'
With the Tokyo Games due to begin on July 24, organisers have set up a task force to coordinate with public health authorities over the epidemic.
The incident, initially reported as a stampede, occurred when there was a huge rush of pilgrims to board vessels to reach Kolkata.
Gale-force winds, heavy rainfall and high tidal waves swept the coastal belt of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa as Cyclone Tauktae hurtled northwards towards Gujarat on Sunday, leaving four people dead in Karnataka and two in Goa, damaging hundreds of houses, uprooting electricity poles and trees and forcing evacuation.
Three more bodies were recovered from the debris in the cloudburst-hit villages of Pithoragarh, raising the death toll in rain-related incidents in the state to 18 while searches were on for as many missing people by the army, para-military and police personnel.
The Intelligence Branch had submitted a report to the state stating that as many as three organisations are planning large-scale gatherings at the airport and on the roads and show black flags to the prime minister.
The handling of the October 23 incident involving an Indian Army helicopter straying into Pakistan air space should be used as a starting point for setting up a more substantial military-military relationship between the armies of the two countries as a distrust-reducing measure, writes B Raman
Pakistan on Sunday forced an Indian Army helicopter to land after it allegedly violated the country's airspace near Skardu. Four soldiers on board were taken into custody by authorities in Pakitsan.
Two persons were evicted from the stadium after fans of both countries clashed outside the stadium, requiring intervention from the Yorkshire Police.
'We are going to have plane crashes left, right and centre.'
The captain said Bangladesh has been playing some really good cricket, running the bog teams close but it's time that they 'cross the line'.
The national capital on Friday recorded a 24-hour average air quality index of 239. On Thursday, it was 315, the worst since February 12 when the AQI was 320.
Security was stepped up after farmers threatened to block more highways connecting the national capital.
The time is ripe to extend the confrontation with the Chinese to the maritime domain, says former RA&W officer Krishan Varma.
The weather office predicted more rains for the state during the next two days.
