Amid the continuing flood crisis, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted more rain in parts of central India and Kerala, due to the formation of a low pressure area over northwest Bay of Bengal on Tuesday.
The death toll in Kerala reached 78 due to heavy rains and flooding in the past four days while more than 160 persons lost their lives in Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra over the past one week. The overall monsoon rains since June 1 is in surplus now at 1%, east and northeast India has a deficiency of -15%, -9% in northwest India, 15% surplus in central India, +5% surplus in peninsular India.
Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) HD Deve Gowda has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to notify Karnataka flood as a natural disaster or natural calamity and release Rs 5000 crore as interim relief.
All rivers are in spate in Karnataka where the UNESCO world heritage site in Hampi, on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in Ballari district, has been inundated after over 1.70 lakh cusec water was released from a reservoir on Sunday morning. Tourists in Hampi have been shifted to safer places. Six persons, including a woman and her nine-month-old daughter, were buried alive in landslides in three different villages in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand. Erosion caused by swirling waters of the flooded Chuflagad River also washed away two buildings on its banks.
According to IMD, under the influence of low pressure area, heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places is likely over north Odisha, south Jharkhand, north Chhattisgarh and east Madhya Pradesh during next 48 hours (August 13 to 14). Kerala is also likely to experience heavy to very rainfall at isolated places during the same period," the IMD bulletin said. The IMD issued alert for Kannur, Kasaragod and Wayanad in Kerala and Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Tehri, Haridwar, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh, Champawat, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand for heavy rainfall. There is an 'orange' category warning for parts of east, central India and Kerala for August 13 and 14. The orange category implies that authorities will have to remain prepared for any emergencies.
With rains subsiding in many parts of Kerala, search operations are on in landslide-hit Kavalappara and Puthumala in Malappuram and Wayanad districts, as the toll in the monsoon fury climbed to 76 and 2.87 lakh people have sought refuge in relief camps. The toll is expected to go up as 50 people are still missing in Malappuram. There is no 'red alert' of torrential rains for any of the 14 districts on Tuesday, but "orange alert" has been issued for six districts to remain prepared for any emergencies.
A total of 5,81,897 people have been evacuated and rescued so far, and 1,181 relief camps have been opened where 3,32,629 people are taking shelter in Karnataka. . As many as 2,694 villages in 17 districts have been affected. According to information available from the state government, the death toll is 42 so far, while 12 were missing.
In Jammu and Kashmir, three members of a family died after they came under a boulder during a landslide in Resai district. Two others were also injured in the incident that took place on Sunday evening in Laar village in the district's Mahore belt.