Weather today highlights: Road to reach Kedarnath Dham blocked for traffic, say police

The Haryana government's Health Department is raising awareness regarding the prevention of water- and vector-borne diseases in the state's flood-affected areas, a spokesperson said on Saturday.

The department is providing first aid, organising medical camps, distributing medicines, conducting door-to-door campaigns, distributing ORS packets and offering transport services for pregnant women in the flood-affected regions, the official said. (PTI)

The road to reach Kedarnath Dham, near Tarsali under the Phata area has been blocked for traffic: Rudraprayag Police (ANI)

With relief operations in full swing in rain-hit Himachal Pradesh, the state government rescued 125 Israeli tourists from Kasol village in Kullu district on Saturday. The operation was carried out after the Israeli embassy sent a communiqué to the state government enquiring about its nationals stranded in flood-hit regions of the state. Read more

Heavy rains lashed many parts of Odisha, mostly the coastal region leading to water-logging in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack on Saturday

Himachal Pradesh has suffered losses of about ₹8,000 crore as heavy rains wreaked havoc in the hill state, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Saturday.

DIG NDRF Mohsen Shahidi on his visit to the flood-affected areas in Noida and told ANI, "A lot of cattle were stranded here. NDRF has been receiving several distress calls related to the issue for the last two days, due to which action has been initiated. However, the situation is better as of now as the water level has receded and fodder has been provided to the livestock...We are still evacuating the cattle from the areas with high water levels."

“The state of Himachal Pradesh saw widespread rainfall in the past 24 hours. Kangra district witnessed the highest rainfall followed by Dharamshala at 131 millimetres then Mandi and others. In the coming 4-5 days, there could be heavy to very heavy rainfall in seven districts - Shimla, Sirmaur, Solan, Bilaspur, Mandi, Kullu, and Kangra... Orange alert on July 15, 16, and 17, followed by yellow alert. The chances of landslides are high since the soil is already saturated and there will be poor visibility in the hilly areas,” Surender Paul, Director, IMD-Shimla told news agency ANI. 

Due to heavy rain and water logging along the tracks of several of its routes, Northern Railways has temporarily cancelled some trains, while some have been diverted and short-terminated as well, said Northern Railways in its press release issued on Friday.

The cancelled trains, which were scheduled to depart from their respective stations on Saturday, include Ambala -Amb Andaura- Ambala Special JCO, Firozpur- Jalandhar Cantt - Firozpur Special JCO , Jalandhar Cantt-Hoshiarpur - Jalandhar Cantt Special JCO.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday set up 'Aapda Kosh-2023', a disaster fund for providing assistance to people who suffered heavy losses during the recent monsoon mayhem in the state.

The Himachal CM announced the disaster fund (Aapda Kosh-2023) on Twitter, urging his followers to donate generously to the fund to help out people who suffered untold losses in the rain fury.

Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj has observed a rise in the water level of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers.

A fresh batch of over 7,000 pilgrims left Jammu city early Saturday for the twin base camps in the Valley to join the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, officials said.

The 62-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas commenced from the twin tracks -- the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag and the shorter 14-km Baltal route in the Ganderbal -- on July 1.

Commuters in Delhi are grappling with severe difficulties as the ITO road, has been engulfed by water due to the rising water level of the Yamuna River.

The road leading to ITO and Rajghat were among new parts of the city to go under waist-deep waters after drains that emptied into the Yamuna began flowing back on Friday, even as the swollen river itself began receding but only by fractions of a metre every hour. Read more

Delhi continued to witness a flood-like situation on Friday night in several low-lying areas even as the water level in the Yamuna River is witnessing a steady decline and recorded at 207.98 metres at 11 pm at the Old Railway Bridge.

Incessant rainfall has led to waterlogged roads and flood-like situations in many areas of the national capital.

As the rescues and restoration work continues in flood-hit Himachal Pradesh, road connectivity to Kasol is expected to be restored by Saturday, the Deputy Commission, Kullu said.

“Road connectivity to Kasol shall be restored by tomorrow. The mobile network has been restored upto Kasol, Banjar and certain areas of Tirthan,” DC Kullu said in a tweet late on Friday night.

IMD has predicted moderate to heavy rainfall for the next five days in Mumbai, Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Dhule. According to the notice issued by Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai, heavy rainfall is expected at isolated places in Mumbai for the next five days.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall is also forecasted at isolated places in Raigad and Ratnagiri.