Many local fishermen and teams of NDRF continued to rescue and evacuate people in flood affected temple town Pandharpur in Solapur district on Friday. (Photo by Mahadev Ghadge)
Weather forecast Today Live Updates: The low pressure over the Arabian Sea intensified into a depression on Saturday but is moving away from the Indian coast and no adverse weather is likely over the west coast, the Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD said. “Yesterday’s well-marked low-pressure area over the east-central Arabian Sea off north Maharashtra coast moved west-northwestwards, concentrated into a depression,” the CWD said.
The IMD has, however, cautioned fishermen from venturing into the central and north Arabian Sea. It said light to moderate rainfall at a few places is very likely over coastal districts of Saurashtra and Kutch during the next 24 hours. Sea conditions will be rough to very rough over east-central and adjoining northeast the Arabian Sea on October 17 and over central and northwest Arabian Sea on October 18.
A fresh low-pressure area is likely to trigger heavy to very heavy rainfall in several parts of Odisha early next week, PTI quoted weather officials as saying on Friday. A low-pressure area is likely to form over the central Bay of Bengal around October 19 and become more marked during the subsequent 24 hours, the weather department predicted. This will be the tenth low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal since the beginning of August and the third this month.
A woman wades through a waterlogged street following heavy rains, at Saroornagar in Hyderabad, Friday, Oct. 16, 2020. (PTI Photo)
Fire tenders sprinkled water in some parts of the national capital on Saturday as part of measures to curb pollution, officials said. The Delhi Fire Services conducted the operation in Wazirpur, Dwarka and Ohkla areas of the city, they said. "The work of spraying water was started around 4 pm from Wazirpur area, followed by Dwarka and Okhla. Three fire tenders were deployed and they were continuously working," said Director, Delhi Fire Service, Atul Garg. The operation of spraying water will be expanded in other areas in the future as per requirement, a senior fire official said.
Flood-hit families will be identified and handed over the CMs Relief Ration kits at their doorstep as part of measures to ensure normalcy in localities affected by heavy rain and flooding earlier this week,Telangana Minister K T Rama Rao said on Saturday. Each kit, costing Rs 2,800, contains one months ration items and three blankets, according to an official release. The Municipal Administration minister,who held a meeting with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Mayor Bonthu Rammohan and officials on the measures to be taken in the flood-affected areas, said Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has directed that the flood-hit families be identified and handed over the kits at their doorstep. The minister asked GHMC officials to take up special sanitation drive to contain the spread of water and vector borne diseases.
The low pressure over the Arabian Sea intensified into a depression on Saturday but is moving away from the Indian coast and no adverse weather is likely over the west coast, the Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD said. "Yesterday's well marked low pressure area over eastcentral Arabian Sea off north Maharashtra coast moved west-northwestwards, concentrated into a depression," the CWD said. The IMD has, however, cautioned fishermen from venturing into the central and north Arabian Sea. It said light to moderate rainfall at a few places is very likely over coastal districts of Saurashtra and Kutch during next 24 hours. (PTI)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting that the Centre immediately grant Rs 2,250 crore for repair and restoration work in the aftermath of the heavy rains and floods last week, reported news agency PTI. The Chief Minister said as per preliminary estimates Andhra Pradesh suffered damage to the tune of Rs 4,450 crore due to the heavy rains that lashed the state from October 9 to 13 and the consequent flooding.
"We have suffered badly due to rains loods in August and September and the fresh spell has caused further damage. In this situation, the Centre should stand in support of the state. We urgently need at least Rs 1,000 crore as advance to undertake relief works on a war-footing and restore normalcy," the Chief Minister said.
Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah on Saturday urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to declare floods in the state as natural calamity. The former Chief Minister also hit out at the Chief Minister of the state B S Yediyurappa's administration over its handling of the flood situation. Describing the administration as thick-skinned, the Opposition Leader alleged that the Ministers, instead of visiting the rain-affected regions, were busy with November 3 bypolls to two Assembly constituencies. (PTI)
Every year in October, Delhi’s air quality starts to dip and a war of words between different governments erupts. On October 15, when the AQI touched very poor for the very first time this season, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the contribution of stubble burning was only 4 per cent that day, a statement that prompted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to ask if stubble burning was not the cause, then why did air pollution rise in the city over the past few days.
Air pollution in Delhi and the whole of the Indo Gangetic Plains is a complex phenomenon that is dependent on a variety of factors. The first and foremost is the input of pollutants, followed by weather and local conditions. Why does air pollution rise in October each year? And what is the role of farm fires? Mallica Joshi explains here
When city police constable Veerender braved all odds to rescue 25 people caught in a deluge of unseen proportions, he symbolised the humane face of a perceived tough police force which went beyond its call of duty to reach out to stranded citizens. When the city was caught in the deluge, the first to respond to the crisis were the policemen who performed a myriad of tasks- from clearing traffic on inundated roads to rescuing people in distress and providing food to the needy.
The quick response of the policemen from the three police commissionerates here Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda -- in extending a helping hand when it was needed the most, has won praise from the citizens. One among them was Constable Veerender of Chikkadpally police station.
He almost single-handedly rescued 25 people, who were stranded at homes following inundation of the locality, using a boat, an officer of the police station told PTI. The policeman's act earned the praise of Hyderabad Commissioner Anjani Kumar, who described him as his "hero" and "true stars" of the team.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has requested the Maharashtra government to take initiative for preparation of detailed project report for formation of State Water Grid to overcome the recurring flood crisis in the state, an official statement said on Saturday. This would help the government ensure the availability of the water in drought prone areas and save the resources to manage the flood crisis, it said. In a letter dated October 14 to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, his cabinet colleagues and MP Sharad Pawar, the Road Transport and Highways Minster sought early decision of the state government on this issue, followed by actions thereon. (PTI)
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday announced that he would be touring the rain and flood-affected districts of Maharashtra from October 19. Heavy rains and floods have claimed at least 48 lives in Pune, Aurangabad and Konkan divisions in the last three days, while crops on lakhs of hectares have been damaged. In an official statement, Fadnavis said he would start his tour from Baramati, the hometown of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, and would visit nine districts including Pune, Solapur and Osmanabad. (PTI)
A fresh low-pressure area, brewing over the Bay of Bengal, is likely to trigger heavy to very heavy rainfall in several parts of Odisha early next week, weather officials said on Friday. Following the forecast, the state government asked officials to plan and remain fully prepared to deal with the possibility of flooding, water-logging and landslides. The Meteorological Centre here forecast that the low- pressure area is likely to form over central Bay of Bengal around October 19 and become more marked during the subsequent 24 hours. Under its influence, enhanced rainfall activity with heavy to very heavy downpour is likely to occur in some districts of Odisha, particularly in the southern region, between October 19 and 21, the MeT Centre said in a bulletin. (PTI)
The national capital's air quality was recorded in the 'poor' category on Saturday morning but is likely to improve slightly due to favourable wind speed, according to government agencies. The air pollution level in Delhi had hit an eight-month high on Thursday but reduced slightly on Friday with favourable wind speed helping in dispersion of pollutants, even as the contribution of stubble burning to Delhi's PM2.5 concentration rose to 18 per cent. The city recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 263 at 10 am. The 24-hour average AQI was 239 on Friday and 315 on Thursday, the worst since February 12 (AQI 320). (PTI)
Two days after eight members of a family in Hyderabad were swept away in a flash flood, four still remain untraceable, even though police and disaster management agencies widened their search.
Hyderabad limped back to normal as flood waters receded, although a few areas still remain inundated and power supply remained disrupted.
Eight members of Mohammed Abdul Taher Qureshi’s family were swept away by floodwaters that surged through the city after incessant rain that began on Tuesday evening. A funeral was held for four members of his family whose bodies were recovered on Thursday. One body, which resembled Qureshi’s brother Saddam Quddus, was recovered by police in a water body near Nagole on the outskirts of Hyderabad, but officials refused to confirm the identity.