Toll in US storm increases to 13
Washington, Sep 16 : The death toll from tropical storm Florence that made landfall in the US east coast, has increased to 13, with authorities warning of continued rains and flooding.
Of the 13 victims, nine died on Friday night, while the rest were killed on Saturday, according to the officials.
Florence crashed ashore Friday morning in North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane, and it has wiped out power to about 796,000 customers in that state and South Carolina, reports CNN.
Officials warned that the flooding was only just starting.
"The flood danger from this storm is more immediate today than when it. made landfall 24 hours ago," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on Saturday.
"We face walls of water at our coasts, along our rivers, across our farmland, in our cities and in our towns."
Across the Carolinas, officials are sounding the alarm: More communities will flood as rivers collect water from upstream and spill over.
Officials have declared states of emergency in several states, including in the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and Maryland, where coastal areas are still recovering from summer storms.
According to the National Hurricane Centre, the storm will travel through upstate South Carolina, be downgraded to a tropical depression, then turn north toward the Ohio Valley.
As it moves near Ohio and West Virginia, it will become a remnant low.
Then it will swing to the northeast in the middle of next week on a path to the Atlantic Ocean near Nova Scotia, where it will be an extra-tropical low with gale-force winds.
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Karnataka plans 100-acre aqua park to boost fishing sector
Bengaluru: Karnataka is planning to set up a 100-acre integrated aqua park aimed at promoting fishing. The proposed park will offer end-to-end facilities, including fish farming, storage facilities and sports fishing.
According to a report published by Deccan Herald on Sunday, a senior official from the Karnataka Fisheries Department said the aqua park is part of a concept introduced by the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The idea is to develop hubs that support the entire fishing value chain from fish seed production and feed to processing and market access.
According to the plan, the aqua park will include nine major facilities like farming of fish food, generating of fish seeds, development of fish seeds, fish farming, cold processing units, development of ornamental fish for aquariums, well-equipped market, fish transport facilities, and sports fishing.
The fisheries department has shortlisted three locations for the project, Byndoor in Udupi, Malavalli in Mandya and Almatti in Bijapur. One of these locations will be finalised based on land availability, after which a Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be prepared and sent to the Union government for approval.
“We have received proposals for three locations. All of them have water bodies close by and hence there is a demand for fishing. However, space is the main criteria. If we are able to get 100 acres, we will go ahead and prepare a detailed project report (DPR) to be submitted to the central ministry,” DH quoted Dinesh Kumar Kaller, director, Karnataka fisheries department as saying.
At Malavalli, near Gaganachukki, around 75 acres of land has been identified and a request has been sent to the Revenue Department. The revenue department has said that the land belongs to the forest department and talks are on. We are also looking at other locations, Kaller reportedly said.
As per the report, at present, only 11 states have an aqua park approved under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and Karnataka is confident that its proposal would also be accepted soon.
