Rain batters Uttarakhand:Death toll rises to 42

In Uttarakhand, death toll rises to 42 as incessant rain  batter the state on Tuesday, leading to floods, landslides, and massive destruction of property especially in the hills of Kumaon. Parts of the state, including Nainital, were cut off from the rest of Uttarakhand as heavy rain reportedly triggered by a cloudburst led to a series of landslides. Rain and mudslides have damaged homes and roads across town. The Mall Road that skirts the Naini lake, and the area around the famous Naina Devi temple were reported to be flooded. Out of the 42 casualties reported on Tuesday, Nainital alone accounted for 28 deaths, followed by Almora and Champawat with six each and one each in Pithoragarh and Udham Singh Nagar districts.

The state government has announced  Rs 4 lakh as compensation for the next of kin of those who lost their lives in rain-related incidents.The Indian Army, along with the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) have been pressed into action to carry out relief and rescue operations in affected areas.The NDRF has deployed a total of 15 teams across the state and has managed to rescue over 300 people from flood-affected areas. Three IAF choppers arrived in the state to assist with rescue operations, two of which were deployed in Nainital.Multiple teams of the national and state disaster response forces were carrying out rescue operations. Two teams of the NDRF were stationed in Uttarkashi; one each in Dehradun, Chamoli, Almora, Pithoragarh, Haridwar and Gadarpur. Roads, bridges and even railway tracks were damaged in Kathgodam and Lalkuan in Nainital and Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar on Tuesday.

In West Bengal, the Met department said heavy rainfall is very likely to continue till Thursday morning even as the low-pressure system that developed over the Gangetic Basin in the southern part of the state moved to Bihar, parts of which received heavy rains during the day.The weatherman warned of extremely heavy rainfall over Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Alipurduar till Wednesday morning and downpour till Thursday over all sub-Himalayan district.