UP flood death toll hits 325 as rainfall intensifies; major rivers in spate

Big rivers are in spate and more than a dozen districts flooded following heavy rainfall in Uttar Pradesh and the adjoining hilly regions over the past few days even as the death toll in the current monsoon season has increased to 325.

More than 21 people have reportedly died over the last 48 hrs in flood-related incidents, including drowning and wall collapse, across the state, including Shahjahanpur, Amethi and Auraiya districts.

Monsoon activity, which had started to slow down, however, regained momentum over the past week, inundating large parts of the agricultural and inhabited land. The government had already deployed columns of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF), and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) in the flood relief and rescue operations in the worst-affected areas.

Indian Air Force (IAF) choppers were pressed into service to rescue people stranded in marooned pockets of Lalitpur and Jhansi districts, which are arid zones but have received a good amount of rainfall this year.

Typhoon Noru injures 51, causes heavy rains, floods, property damage

Typhoon Noru dumped heavy rain on Japan on Tuesday as it moved back out to sea, causing flooding and property damage while the number of injured reportedly rose to 51.

After making landfall in western Japan the previous day, the storm packing winds of up to 108 kilometres (67 miles) per hour ploughed across the main island of Honshu.

The typhoon was 40 kilometres off the coast of northern Niigata prefecture by today, slowly moving towards the northeast, Japan's meteorological agency said. The storm earlier killed two people on outlying islands Saturday.

Public broadcaster NHK said the number of people injured in accidents related to the typhoon had reached 51.

Aerial footage showed a flooded river in western Japan's Shiga prefecture, while houses, rice paddies and roads were submerged.

On Saturday, a man in his 60s on the southern island of Yakushima died after falling in strong gusts generated by Noru and hitting his head.

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