Doomsday Warning? Netizens Terrified as India Battles Cyclone, Floods, & Smog

This week has been particularly catastrophic for different parts of India currently battling nature's fury.

A two-month old baby and nine adults were found dead in Hyderabad after torrential rains lashed the southern Indian city for a third day on Wednesday. A total of 14 districts in the state of Telangana, where Hyderabad is located, have been adversely affected by the continuous downpours.

Videos of submerged roads and floating cars from the southern Indian region have left people in shock even in other parts of the country. Snippets showing rainwater aggressively washing down the walls of tall forts in Hyderabad have also surfaced on social media. 

​A deep depression formed over the Bay of Bengal in India, causing this damaging rainfall in parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha. The depression brought 11 to 24 cm of rain in several locations in these states.

​While the southern and eastern parts of India are battling rains and storms, the skies in northern India have turned a smoky grey. 

Ahead of the Diwali festivities, "stubble" left over in the farmlands of the densely populated states of Punjab and Haryana is now being burnt. The heavy smoke has begun travelling towards the national capital Delhi, where it mixes with pollution from vehicles and turns into a blanket of eye-burning smog. 

Earlier this week, the air quality index in Delhi touched the "very poor" mark for the first time this year, because the lockdown and restricted vehicular movements had otherwise kept the air quality at a "very good" level for the past six months.

Pictures of smoggy Delhi have been making residents anxious about the winter days ahead.

​All of these natural calamities, adding to the pandemic stress has gotten Indians praying to be saved from any "doomsday" that the year 2020 may have left in store.