Three people were killed and at least 250 others injured as storm lashed Netrakona, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat and Rangpur districts on Wednesday night.

Our Netrakona correspondent reported storm swept 30 villages of Kalmakanda, Barhatta, Mohongonj and Khaliajuri upazilas of the district, killing a mother and her son killed and injuring at least 30 others.

Storm lashed four upazilas of Kurigram and Lalmonirhat districts early yesterday and on Tuesday night, damaging over 3,000 thatched and tin-roofed houses and injuring at least 28 people.

Our Kurigram correspondent reported that at least 600 houses were damaged as storm swept 20 villages in four unions of Rajarhat upazila early yesterday.

Locals said the storm hit the village of four unions at around 12:00am and lasted for an hour.

After repeated squabbles with the civic administration over desilting of the Mithi river, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has now sent an ultimatum to the BMC that it will be doing the desilting work this year for the last time.

Both agencies have been at loggerheads for the past seven years over the desilting of a six-km stretch of the Mithi river, resulting in a delay in desilting and waterlogging in areas around that patch.

The kind of deluges that in recent years washed out Cedar Rapids, IA, forced the Army Corps of Engineers to intentionally blow up levees to save Cairo, IL, and sent the Missouri River over its banks for hundreds of miles are part of a growing trend, according to a new report released today by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Big storms, leading to big floods, are occurring with increasing frequency in the Midwest, with incidences of the most severe downpours doubling over the last half century, the report finds.

Three people were killed and 20 others injured as storm lashed 10 villages in two upazilas of Lalmonirhat district yesterday morning.

The deceased were identified as Renuka Rani, 38, wife of Khitish Chandra Roy of Chalbala village, Shafiqul Islam, 35, son of Monir Uddin of Kakina village, and Shamsul Islam, 42, son of Entazur Rahman of Gopalroy village.

Shafiqul and Shamsul died as trees fell on them while Renuka was killed by lightning during the storm, said Amiruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Kaliganj Police Station.

RESIDENTS of areas hit by natural disasters such as cyclones and storms could face carbon tax bills for the greenhouse emissions arising from rubbish created by the disaster, a Senate estimates hearing was told yesterday.

The revelation came as the government released a list of 104 local councils it believes may have to pay the tax because of the carbon emissions from rubbish dumps, 46 of which are in NSW and 21 in Victoria.

The number of extreme rainstorms - deluges that dump 3 inches or more in a day - doubled in the U.S. Midwest over the last half-century, causing billions of dollars in flood damage in a trend climate advocates link to a rise in greenhouse gas emissions.

Across the Midwest the biggest storms increased by 103 percent from 1961 through 2011, a study released by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council reported on Wednesday.

Gusting winds that swept through the Welikanda and Dimbulagala Divisional Secretariat areas of Polonnaruwa in North central Sri Lanka Monday evening had damaged 20 houses, the Disaster Management Centre of Polonnaruwa said.

Meanwhile, one person has been killed and two others have been hospitalized due to the lightning in the area, the state-run radio reported.

According to the Head of the DMC Upul Nanayakkara the lightening along with heavy rain has knocked down trees and damaged light poles leaving many people in the area without electricity.

The City’s biggest water body, Bellandur lake, faces the threat of extinction finds a study by the Energy and Wetland Research Centre (EWRC) and Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

slow death A view of the Bellandur lake. The lake is being dried up to pave the way for concrete structures (residential complexes). The day is not far when nearly one fourth of the people in the City are forced to consume highly contaminated water. A study by Dr T V Ramachandra - senior scientist, EWRC,