At least 40 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been evacuated as floods hit vast swathes of central and eastern India. A politician has been mocked online after a photo of him being carried went viral.
Image: Getty Images/S.Kanojia
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Days of torrential rain in the central and northeastern states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have led to a massive evacuation operation.
Indian officials said on Monday that the monsoon rains have lead to the deaths of at least 17 people the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. A total of 23 people also died in the northeastern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh due to drowning, electrocution or injuries sustained from collapsed houses.
Evacuations underway
The torrential downpours have caused the Ganges River and its tributaries to rise drastically above the danger level during the past 48 hours. In the city of Allahabad, many people were forced to move to safer areas after water from the Ganges made its way through several residential areas. Around 12,000 people were evacuated from low-lying surrounding villages, a government statement said.
Some 600,000 people were also evacuated in Bihar. With more rain forecast in the coming days, the army and air force are on standby to deal with the disaster.
Amid the floods, a senior Indian politician has been widely mocked on social media after photos showing policemen carry him through ankle-deep muddy water went viral. He was inspecting deadly floods in the country's center at the time.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, chief minister of Madhya Pradesh state, was shown wearing crisp white trousers and white shoes as he was carried through the water in a field.
"Shame on #Shivrajsinghchouhan. So embarrassing #wetyourfeet my man," Twitter user Jennifer Fernandes wrote.
"#Shivraj training Indian athletes for 400M Relay 2020 Olympics," read another.
But while most of the comments were light-hearted, many also accused Chouhan of abusing his position, with comparisons being drawn to the treatment of British officials during colonial times.
Government officials were quoted as blaming overzealous minders for the photo, while another said Chouhan hurt his foot, and there was also concern about snakes in the water.
Chouhan himself posted several pictures of his visit to the floods on Twitter but bypassed the controversial one.
Natural disasters as seen from outer space
How do satellites see the Earth? And what do they find out about what's happening down here? Check out these impressive photos of natural disasters to discover for yourself.
Image: NASA
Only tears of sand remain
Earth observation satellites such as the European Space Agency's Proba-V collect daily images that allow for the tracking of environmental changes over time. The images above - taken in April 2014, July 2015 and January 2016 (left to right) - offer crystal-clear insight into the gradual evaporation of Lake Poopo, once Bolivia's second largest lake - due at least in part to climate change.
Image: ESA/Belspo
The beast has awoken
No matter how long volcanoes sleep, they're always in a bad mood when they wake up. The International Space Station was passing overhead when the Sarychev volcano, located in the Kuril Islands of Russia, erupted in 2009. Astronauts were able to snap a picture through a hole in the clouds. From dense ash to clouds of condensed water, virtually all natural phenomena can be examined from outer space.
Image: NASA
Don't play with fire
Every year, wildfires devastate the landscape - and ecology - in numerous countries around the world. Too often, these are caused by humans. This was also the case in Indonesia, where farmers burned peat rainforest areas for agriculture. On the island of Borneo and Sumatra, satellites detected fire hot spots in September 2015, and the plume of grey smoke that triggered air quality alerts.
Image: NASA/J. Schmaltz
German kids misbehaved
In Germany, parents warn their children that if they don't finish their meals, it's going to rain. And indeed, in 2013 it rained, so much that some of central Europe's major rivers overflowed their banks. As shown in this image from 2013, the Elbe burst its banks following unprecedented rainfall. In the photo, muddy water covers the area around Wittenberg, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Image: NASA/J. Allen
At the eye of the hurricane
A strong storm can cause irreparable damage through intense winds and storm surges from the sea. Space-based information is crucial in following development of such storms: intensity, the direction it's moving, wind speed … in the eastern Pacific Ocean near Mexico, this satellite image helped determine how tropical storm Sandra reached winds of 160 kilometers per hour by November 25, 2015.
Image: NASA/J. Schmaltz
Melting away from under us
Satellites also play a key role in monitoring climate change and, inevitably, the process of melting ice. From space, scientists were able to document how several glaciers around the globe have receded - as well as the subsequent rise in sea level. This photograph, taken from the International Space Station, shows the retreat of the Upsala glacier in Argentine Patagonia from 2002 to 2013.
Image: NASA
Hold your breath!
Dust often covers remote deserts - however, in September 2015, satellites offered this impressive view of Middle East areas enveloped by a dust storm, or haboob, affecting large populated regions. What satellites can observe from space supports air quality sensors on the ground to understand patterns on how the storms start and develop. These findings can improve forecasting methods.
Image: NASA/J. Schmaltz
'Naked mountain'
These are the words NASA used to describe the lack of snow on California's Mount Shasta, a crucial source of water for the region. Images documenting drought over the past years have consistently been showing brown mountains that should be white, and bare earth where people seek water. As ice melts, drought grows.
