Category: ENVIRONMENT

• Weather
• Agriculture
• WildLife

Recent developments in animal cruelty laws in India have taken a centre stage as the nation grapples with the need to protect its rich biodiversity, including iconic species like the Indian Rhinoceros and Bengal Tigers.

A child was killed and 11 people were missing in floods in the hills of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong in north Bengal that come under the jurisdiction of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), according to the GTA chief executive Anit Thapa.

At least 23 soldiers are reportedly missing after a sudden cloud burst over the Lhonak Lake in Sikkim on Wednesday, a defence spokesman said. The spokesman said that the cloud burst triggered a flash flood in the Teesta River in Lachen Valley.

Even though the four-month long (June to September) Southwest monsoon yet to withdraw from the northeastern region, three of the eight states of the region -- Assam, Manipur and Mizoram -- witnessed deficient monsoon rainfall due to lack of rain-bearing clouds and monsoon troughs from the Bay of Bengal.

A 5.0-magnitude earthquake rocked off Indonesia's eastern province of West Papua on Sunday, the country's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.

Lightning strikes have killed seven people in Yemen's northwestern province of Hodeidah in the past 24 hours, local health authorities said.

Super typhoon Saola, which triggered floods and landslides in the Philippines, has left at least one dead and displaced 3,87,242 people across the country, the government said on Friday.

The India Meteorological Department on Thursday said that increase in rainfall activity over East and adjoining central India from Saturday while isolated heavy rainfall activity is likely over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Andaman and Nicobar Islands

India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said that isolated heavy rainfall activity is likely to continue over Andaman-Nicobar Islands, Northeast India and extreme south Peninsular India during next five days while a fresh rainfall spell is likely over parts of East India from Saturday.

After starting the month on a positive note with a 5 per cent surplus due to a wet July, the monsoon took a downturn in August, with an overall deficit of 7 per cent as of August 20, the report said.

While worsening weather conditions that would “complicate firefighting operations” had initially been expected overnight on Sunday, the night had been “quiet, with more favourable weather conditions than expected”, local government said.

Nearly 400 wildfires raging in Canada's British Columbia (BC) province have prompted the evacuation of at least 30,000 households, while another 36,000 are currently under an evacuation alert, the media reported on Monday.

"Preparations for flooding impacts across the southwestern US should be completed with the peak intensity of heavy rainfall expected later today through early Monday morning," the US National Hurricane Center said in an advisory on Sunday. 

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said that isolated heavy rainfall is likely to continue in Himachal Pradesh in the next two days, and in Uttarakhand and northeast in the next 4-5 days. 

In its bulletin, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that in northwest India, there is a forecast of light to moderate scattered and fairly widespread rainfall till Sunday.

Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to continue over Uttarakhand, northern parts of east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh during next 4-5 days while subdued rainfall activity is likely over rest of the country during next one week, the IMD said on Thursday.

An 18 ft-long python was rescued by locals from a tea garden in Assam's Nagaon district on Thursday, officials said.nLocals in the Balijuri tea garden saw the huge python and promptly alerted forest officials and environmentalists.

Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely over Uttarakhand, Bihar, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh during next five days while subdued rainfall activity is likely over rest parts of the country during next one week, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday.

Officials said the movement of Yatris from Jammu to Srinagar and also of those returning pilgrims from Srinagar to Jammu has been suspended due to landslide on the highway in Ramban district.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said that isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely over Northeast India, Bihar and Uttarakhand during next five days while subdued rainfall activity is expected over the remaining parts of the country during next one week.

Of the 147 fatalities, Arizona's Pima and Maricopa counties accounted for 64 and 39, respectively; while 26 deaths occurred in Clark county, Nevada; and 11 and seven in Texas's Webb and Harris counties.

According to a tweet by the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), the earthquake of magnitude occurred on Saturday at 9.31.48 IST, at a point at latitude 36.38 degrees and longitude 70.77 degrees, at a depth of 181 km in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan.

An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale with its epicentre in Pakistan, jolted Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, although no report of any casualty or damage to property was received so far.

The summer of 2023 is "a summer of extremes" due to the scorching heat, wildfires and floods that have resulted in major damage to people's health and the environment, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck off North Sulawesi province in central Indonesia on Friday evening but did not trigger a tsunami, the country's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.