Weather News | Aug 1 Highlights: Wayanad Landslides Toll Likely To Cross 300; 1,000 Stuck In Uttarakhand's Kedarnath

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A 22-year-old woman and her child drowned in a waterlogged drain while two people suffered injuries in separate incidents following Wednesday's heavy rainfall in Delhi, PTI reported.

Tanuja and her three-year-old son Priyansh had gone to a weekly market near Khoda Colony in the Ghazipur area. They slipped and fell into the waterlogged under-construction drain around 8 pm.

Delhi Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi informed that all schools - government and private - will remain closed in the city on Thursday, August 1, in view of the heavy rains which led to severe waterlogging on Wednesday.

"In light of very heavy rainfall today evening and forecast of heavy rainfall tomorrow, all schools - government and private - will remain closed tomorrow," Atishi said in a post on microblogging platform X late night on Wednesday.

Congress Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are visiting the landslide affected areas of Kerala's Wayanad district today, August 1. The leaders aim to meet with families impacted by the natural disaster and assess the situation on the ground, according to reports.

Though Gandhi was meant to visit Wayanad on Wednesday, it was postponed following rescue personnel’s request.

The death toll in the devastating landslides in Kerala's Wayanad district rose to 167 on Wednesday, while 191 were missing even as the rescue teams intensified efforts to find survivors trapped under the debris on the second day of the search operations.

Tiny makeshift bridges were erected over swollen rivers and excavators were engaged non-stop in removing piles of debris and boulders in the landslide-hit hamlets of Wayanad. Rescue operators, including Army personnel, NDRF, state emergency service personnel, and local people, were fighting against all odds to carry out the tough mission even as rain continued to lash several areas.

The regional Met office in Himachal has issued an 'orange' alert for heavy to very heavy rain, accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning, in isolated places of all Himachal Pradesh districts, barring Kinnaur and Lahaul & Spiti, for Thursday.

The Met office has four colour-coded warnings -- green (no action needed), yellow (watch and stay updated), orange (be prepared) and red (take action).

Picturesque hamlets of Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha in Kerala's Wayanad district now resemble a post-apocalyptic world with no traces of roads or streets after massive landslides triggered by torrential rains that struck early hours of Tuesday, killing dozens and leaving scores trapped or buried under silt and mud.

Fears of mounting fatalities have been sparked by suspicions that several people may still be trapped under the debris.

Wayanad, a hill district in northern Kerala, is known for its lush green forests, rolling hills, and sparkling waterfalls.

A cloudburst incident has been reported in Thaltukhod, Padhar subdivision of Mandi. "One body has been recovered, and 9 people are missing. Houses have also been damaged. The District Administration and NDRF team have left for the spot," Apoorv Devgan, Deputy Commissioner of Mandi, told ANI.

In another incident, 19 people are missing after a cloudburst in the Samej Khad area of ​​Rampur in Shimla district.

Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area, where three students died due to flooding in the basement of a coaching centre last week, was again submerged following heavy rain on Wednesday evening with commuters wading through waterlogged lanes and fearing for their safety.

Several videos surfaced of the flood-like situation on the stretch that is lined with many coaching centres.

Drenched in the rain, students who have been protesting since the incident happened on July 27 shouted slogans while standing in thigh-high water.

Six people, including three of a family, were killed and as many injured in Uttarakhand as heavy rains led to house collapses, flooding of areas and rise in water levels in many rivers of the state, officials said on Thursday, PTI reported.

Many colonies and markets of Bhupatwala, Haridwar, Naya Haridwar, Kankhal and Jwalapur also got flooded. In accordance with the instructions issued by the chief minister, teams of the district administration, NDRF and SDRF are on alert.

More rains are expected in Delhi on Thursday, the meteorological department has forecast, a day after heavy showers inundated large parts of the city, choking key stretches with unending traffic and leaving people stranded as roads resembled rivers.

The Salwan station in East Delhi’s Mayur Vihar area recorded 147.5 mm rainfall from 8.30 am on Wednesday till 7.15 am on Thursday, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The Kerala police have launched an investigation into an alleged social media campaign against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Facebook post requesting help for the people affected by the landslides in Wayanad district.

The State Police Media Centre (SPMC) on Thursday said that the Wayanad Cybercrime police has registered a case under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Disaster Management Act and launched a probe into the alleged spreading of a campaign with the intention of obstructing relief efforts.

The SPMC, in its statement, further said that the fake campaign was circulated on social media platform X from a handle called 'Koyikodans 2.0'. The post was aimed at motivating people to reject the CM's appeal for disaster relief, it said. (PTI Inputs)

Over 30 people are missing following a cloudburst in Jhakhari area of Rampur subdivision of Shimla district early Thursday.

Roads have been washed away and a hydro power project in the area has also been damaged, Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap told PTI. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force, Indo Tibetan Border Police, police and home guards have started rescue operations.

Delhi has recorded 228.1 mm of rain in the past 24 hours, causing waterlogging in several parts of the national capital. In the three hours between 2.30 am and 5.30 am, Delhi saw over 150 mm of rainfall.

The highest ever rainfall recorded in 24 hours at Safdarjung, the primary observatory of Delhi, during the month of June was 235.5 mm on June 28, 1936.

Congress' Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has urged Home Minister Amit Shah to declare the Wayanad landslides as a "calamity of severe nature" under the MPLADS guidelines in order to facilitate urgent assistance from MPs to the affected areas.

The Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)  enables MPs to suggest and get executed developmental works of a capital nature based on locally felt needs.

"Until 7 am today, we have completed 256 autopsies, which include body parts as well. So, it's not 256 full bodies, but also includes body parts. We have handed over 154 bodies to the district administration," said State Health Minister Veena George, PTI reported.

"It's quite unfortunate. Last night, we performed 112 autopsies, I think. I saw a health worker there, and she was crying. She hadn't gone home the previous day and was staying back. I asked her why, and she said she was in charge of this particular area. She said, 'I can't go home; I have to be here because my people are coming,'" George said.

With search operations underway in calamity-ravaged Mundakkai in Wayanad district, rescue operators say that heavy machinery is required to remove the huge trees uprooted in the landslides that buried several houses.

"We are standing on the terrace of a building, and a smell is emanating from underneath, indicating the presence of dead bodies. The building is fully covered with mud and uprooted trees," a rescue operator told media.

He said that excavators (Hitachis) are available for the operations, but they are insufficient for the task.

"Heavy machinery is required to remove the huge trees and carry out search operations in the collapsed buildings. Only then can we make progress in the search operations," he added.

Three people were killed and about 40 went missing after two separate incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh where rains washed away many houses and roads and left two hydro power projects damaged.

A cloudburst at Samagh Khud (nallah) in Rampur subdivision of Shimla district left two people dead and 28 others missing, Superintendent of Police (SP), Shimla Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi, told PTI.

Seven people, including three of a family, were killed and as many injured in Uttarakhand as heavy rains triggered many incidents of house collapse, flooding of areas and rise in water levels in several rivers of the state, PTI reported.

Four people also went missing in rain-related incidents in Dehradun, Haldwani and Chamoli. Two people were swept away by the waters of an overflowing seasonal canal in Raipur area of Dehradun, the disaster control room here said. Body of one has been recovered while a search is on to find the other, it said.

Water gushed into many homes in Dehradun besides leaving the roads heavily waterlogged at various places in the city.

India is predicted to record above-normal rainfall in August and September, with a good chance of favourable La Nina conditions developing by the end of August, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.

The IMD said that rainfall over India in August and September would be 106 per cent of the long-period average of 422.8 mm.

The country has so far recorded 453.8 mm against the normal of 445.8 mm since June 1, a surplus of two per cent, owing to a wetter-than-normal July after a drier June.

Officials of NDRF and Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) on Thursday discussed and reviewed the status of relief and rescue operation underway at the spot where a landslide took place in Wayanad.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday held a press conference after an all-party meeting which was held over the Wayanad landslide tragedy.

Following heavy downpour, three people were electrocuted near metro station in Gurugram on Thursday.

Three people were killed and about 50 went missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh where rains washed away many houses, bridges and roads, officials said on Thursday.

The state emergency operation centre said the cloudburst took place in Nirmand, Sainj and Malana areas in Kullu, Padhar in Mandi and Rampur in Shimla districts.

A cloudburst at Samej Khud (nallah) in Rampur subdivision of Shimla district left two people dead and 28 others missing, Superintendent of Police (SP), Shimla, Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi, told news agency PTI.

Two people have been rescued from the spot. Rescue operation is challenging as roads have been washed away, Deputy Commissioner (DC), Shimla, Anupam Kashyap said.

Another cloudburst in village Rajban near Terang in Padhar subdivision of Mandi district on Wednesday night left one person dead and nine others missing. Two houses have been washed away while another was damaged, officials said.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) DIG Mohsen Shahidi said that over 200 deaths have been declared and bodies continued to be recovered on Thursday following the landslides in Kerala's Wayanad on July 30.

DIG Shahedi said that there are sufficient teams of central forces in the affected site to undertake the rescue operations.

Two massive landslides struck Mundakkai and Churalmala in Wayanad in the early hours of July 30, causing extensive destruction, loss of lives, and injury to hundreds, as per the Kerala Revenue Department.

"According to our information, more than 200 deaths have taken place. Bodies are being recovered and over 200 people are injured. On the first day, 150 people were rescued and we are still conducting the search and rescue operation. As of now, there are sufficient teams of the Indian Army, NDRF, Fire Services, IAF, ICG, and others on the spot, and a review meeting was held by the Kerala CM and other officials," DIG Shahidi told news agency ANI.

Seventeen persons have died due to diarrhoea in three districts of Jabalpur division in Madhya Pradesh so far in the ongoing rainy season, a health official said on Thursday.

Of these 17 fatalities, six each were reported in Jabalpur and Mandla districts, while five in Dindori district. A total of 800 people fell ill due to diarrhoea, Sanjay D Mishra, regional director of health services, told news agency PTI.

Heavy rainfall in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh has caused widespread damage, including landslides and road closures. The Public Works Department is working to restore the Chamba-Tissa main road, which has been blocked by debris, isolating the Churah sub-district.

Restoration efforts are ongoing.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi along with party leader and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at the landslide site in Chooralmala, Wayanad.

On the incident of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh, NDRF DG Piyush Anand said four teams are present there, adding that rescue work is ongoing and it will take some time for the situation to stabilise.

"All preparations are on for airlifting the people who are trapped...We are trying our best to rescue people as soon as possible," he said.

After a meeting with ministers part of a sub-committee formed to overlook the rescue operations in landslides-hit Wayanad, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the media that the Army representatives had apprised that all those who could be saved from the debris had been rescued, adding that there still are many missing people and that the rescue work is "not something that will be over in a few days".

"There are so many missing people. We have recovered so many bodies from many parts of the region. The rescue workers have recovered many bodies from the Chaliyar River. Many body parts were also recovered," news agency PTI quoted the chief minister as saying added.

"This rescue attempt is not something which can be resolved in a short period of time. As of now, 12 ministers are camping in Wayanad. Now the all-party meeting has decided that four ministers will camp here to coordinate the rescue operations," Vijayan said.

Twelve people, including three of a family, were killed and six injured in heavy overnight rains in various parts of Uttarakhand that triggered many incidents of house collapse, flooding and rise in water levels of several rivers, officials said on Thursday.

Most parts of the state did not receive fresh rains till Thursday afternoon.

Haridwar district reported six deaths, Tehri three, Dehradun two and Chamoli one. Two persons one each in Haldwani and Chamoli are still missing, the Disaster Control Room here said.

A 12-year-old boy got electrocuted after coming in contact with a live wire in southwest Delhi’s Bindapur area, police said on Thursday. The incident occurred on Wednesday when the boy was returning home from tuition. A PCR call regarding this was received at 7.30 pm, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Ankit Kumar Singh said.

Police recovered two plastic pipes containing disconnected electric cables emerging from the ground. The cables were tied to a wall near DDA flats in the area, news agency PTI quoted him as saying.

boy was rushed to Indira Gandhi Hospital where doctors declared him dead, the DCP said.

In another incident, Prabhat (28) was also electrocuted at his home in southeast Delhi's Mithapur area, police said.

On Wayanad landslides, Kerala LoP VD Satheesan said the rescue operations have concluded but nearly 300 persons are missing. The official figure is 206 but it may be above 300, he said.

A bailey bridge has been built by the Army, now the equipment are ready and brought there, he added.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also told the media that the Army representatives had apprised that all those who could be saved from the debris had been rescued, adding that there still are many missing people and that the rescue work is "not something that will be over in a few days".

General Officer Commanding (GOC) Karnataka and Kerala Sub Area, Major General VT Mathew said, "The rescue has been completed. Right now, we are only retrieving the bodies. If there is anyone who is trapped in houses then we will rescue them. But it is a difficult task during the rains. 3 Army dogs are deployed here... We stop the rescue operations in the evening as it is dangerous. Our 5 teams are deployed here for the rescue operations..."

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In a satellite image, the National Remote Sensing Centre (NSRC) showed the impact of the Wayanad landslides in which over 200 people have lost their lives, with the toll expected to go higher as the work to retrieve bodies remains on and the operation to pull out survivors having been concluded.

The NSRC said a major debris flow was triggered by heavy rainfall in and around the Chooralmala town of Wayanad District in Kerala state of India.

A "3D rendition of the crown of the landslide" illustrated that a large section of the hill slope was affected, the NSRC said.

The areal extent of the landslide is 86,000 sq.m, it said, adding that the crown is located at an approximate elevation of 1,550 m above the Mean Sea Level (MSL).

ISRO said there is evidence of an old landslide at same location. The NRSC used the Cartosat-3 satellite and the RISAT satellite to see through cloud cover.

In another set of satellite images, NRSC reports says "a major debris flow was triggered by heavy rainfall in and around the Chooralmala town of Wayanad District in Kerala state of India".

Very high resolution RISAT SAR images of 31 July, 2024 show the entire extent of the debris flow from crown to end of run out zone. The approximate length of the flow is 8 km. The crown zone is a reactivation of an older landslide."

"The size of the main scarp of the landslide in 86,000 square meters. The debris flow has widened the course of the Iruvaniphuza River causing breach of its banks. Houses and other infrastructures located along the banks have been damaged by the debris flow," NSRC said. 

The meteorological office Himachal Pradesh's Shimla issued a "red alert" of heavy to extremely heavy rain along with thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places in three districts of Kangra, Kullu and Mandi on Thursday.

It also warned of landslides, mudslides and land sinking, besides disruptions of essential services like water and electricity, communications and related services, damage to fruit and standing crops and risk to vulnerable structures and 'kutcha' houses due to strong winds and waterlogging in low-lying areas.

Several parts of Delhi remained waterlogged on Thursday, a day after heavy showers unleashed chaos in the city, officials said, adding that five people have died in separate rain-related incidents so far.

Six weather stations across Delhi recorded over 100 mm of rain in a single day, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday, categorising it as an "extremely intense spell".

According to the IMD, the city's primary weather station, Safdarjung, recorded 107 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours. Other stations, which also received significant rainfall, included Mayur Vihar (147 mm), Najafgarh and Ridge (113 mm), Lodi Road (106 mm) and Delhi University (104 mm), it said.

Till 12 am, the Delhi Police received 26 calls of building collapse and one more such incident was reported till 7 am on Thursday, data cited in a news agency PTI report showed.

To me this is a national disaster for sure, LoP and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday after visiting landslides-hit Wayanad.

It is quite a painful experience to see how many people have lost family members and houses, Rahul Gandhi said.

After meeting Wayanad landslides survivors along with her brother Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said they spent a whole day meeting people who have suffered.

Calling it an immense tragedy, Priyanka Gandhi said: "We can only imagine the kind of pain the people are suffering. We are here to give as much comfort and support. There has been a big tragedy in Himachal Pradesh as well. Tomorrow, we plan to sit and chalk out how we can help especially the children who are left on their own now."

On situation due to heavy rains in Tehri and Rudraprayag districts of Uttarakhand, state's Director General of Police, Abhinav Kumar said, "We had received a weather warning for heavy rainfall in the state for 48 hours. Given this alert, police, NDRF, SDRF and local administrations were put on alert. After rainfall started last night, we started getting news of mudslides, rocks falling etc from different areas."

In the night itself, teams were sent to several places for rescue and relief. All state & central agencies are engaged in rescue and relief, he said.

Till now, 11 people have died, and eight are seriously injured in different districts, he said, adding that around 1000 people were stuck in Kedarnath till morning and 800 people were on the trek route there- work is on to rescue them.

{We have suspended the yatra for the next two days due to weather warnings. We have restricted the movement of pilgrims on the Yamunotri and Kedarnath trek routes. State govt has taken the help of IAF and pvt helicopters to rescue those stranded in Kedarnath. 12 NDRF teams and 60 SDRF teams engaged in rescue work...," he said.

Four people were killed and about 50 missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh where rains washed away many houses, bridges and roads, officials said on Thursday.

The state emergency operation centre said the cloudbursts took place in Nirmand, Sainj and Malana areas in Kullu, Padhar in Mandi and Rampur in Shimla districts.

A cloudburst at Samej Khud (nallah) in the Rampur subdivision of the Shimla district left two people dead and about 30 missing, Superintendent of Police (SP), Shimla, Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi told PTI.

Another cloudburst in the Rajban village near Terang in the Padhar subdivision of the Mandi district on Wednesday night left two persons dead and eight missing. Two houses were washed away while another was damaged, officials said.

Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, SDM Arun Kumar, said on Thursday that there has been a lot of damage, roads have also been damaged due to landslide. "Instructions have been given to the rest of the officials including field staff, and restoration work is going on. There is no loss of life. There has been damage to vehicles...," he told news agency ANI.

• Wayanad Landslides: The operations to pull out survivors concluded on Thursday in Kerala's Wayanad, parts of which were hit by multiple landslides in the early hours of July 30, leading to the deaths of over 200 people. Hundreds still remain missing there, Kerala LoP VD Satheesan said the rescue operations the death toll may be over 300. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also told the media that the Army representatives had apprised that all those who could be saved from the debris had been rescued, adding that there still are many missing people and that the rescue work is "not something that will be over in a few days". READ FULL STORY

• Cloudburtsts shook the hill states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, where multiple deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours. In Uttarakhand, 12 people, including three of a family, were killed and six injured in heavy overnight rains that triggered flooding and house collapse as several rivers swelled in. Six deaths were reported in Haridwar, three in Tehri, two in Dehradun and one in Chamoli. READ FULL STORY

• Four people were killed and about 50 missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh where rains washed away many houses, bridges and roads, officials said on Thursday. The state emergency operation centre said the cloudbursts took place in Nirmand, Sainj and Malana areas in Kullu, Padhar in Mandi and Rampur in Shimla districts.

• Delhi logged over five deaths, nearly 3,000 calls for traffic jams, 26 for building collapses and 119 for waterlogging after going into chaos following Wednesday's (July 31) record cloudburst-like rainfall that even flooded Rajinder Nagar area, where students have been protesting over the death of three UPSC aspirants in a flooded basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle coaching centre on July 27. READ FULL STORY

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