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Amid heavy rain fall and <keyword id="20310051" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="flood" source="keywords">flood</keyword> situation in <keyword id="19896313" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Andhra-Pradesh" source="keywords">Andhra Pradesh</keyword>, the <keyword id="19905239" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-Disaster-Response-Force" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="National Disaster Response Force" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="National Disaster Response Force">National Disaster Response Force</keyword> (<keyword id="19988414" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NDRF" source="keywords">NDRF</keyword>) team along with <keyword id="20279329" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Central-forces" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Central forces" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Central forces">Central forces</keyword> and district officials, provided food, drinking water, and other essential items to the flood-affected areas in <keyword id="19927072" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vijayawada" source="keywords">Vijayawada</keyword> through helicopters. This comes due to the heavy rainfall caused by the cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal, which has led to flooding in several areas of Vijayawada. The water level at Prakasam barrage in Vijayawada has also increased due to incessant rainfall in the region. Meanwhile Andhra Minister Nara Lokesh said that the state government Garu, has for the first time ever deployed drones to deliver relief materials and food flood-affected people. This has made <keyword id="22080122" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="relief-operations" source="keywords">relief operations</keyword> more efficient and quick. Earlier, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, on Monday conducted a review over heavy rain fall and flood situation at the Andhra Pradesh Disaster Management Authority office and said that protecting the lives and property of people is his first priority. Andhra Pradesh has witnessed major devastation with heavy rainfall for the past three days recorded at 29 cm to 34 cm on a single resembling like cloud burst hitting normal life. Traffic flow on national highways came to a halt with overflowing of flood water and large number of train services were cancelled. As a result of Budameru floods several areas including Singhnagar, Nandamuri Nagar and other low lying areas were submerged within hours forcing nearly two lakh people to take shelter on the terraces of their buildings. The Chief Minister directed the officials to supply food and water to flood victims at first. With the personal intervention of the Chief Minister, officials swung into action and made arrangements to distribute food packets till late last night by venturing into flood affected regions through boats. Chief Minister Naidu also contacted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and apprised them of the present flood crisis and requested them to treat this flood devastation as natural calamity. As per the request of the CM, the central government responded immediately and started deploying 10 NDRF teams, 40 power boats and six helicopters to rescue people from flood affected regions. In a post on social media platform X the CM said "I visited the flood affected areas in Vijayawada on the second day. I have personally supervised the assistance provided to the affected people. I assured them. The power boats sent by the Center and the arrangements made by the state government have increased the speed of relief operations. Public safety is our responsibility. All efforts are being made to bring people out of this unexpected calamity as soon as possible. I wish the affected people to be brave". He repeatedly appealed to people that the state government will come to their rescue. Pained by the plight of people, Chandrababu Naidu appealed to officials to coordinate with people by adopting humanitarian approach to increase confidence levels of people at the hour of crisis.

Vijayawada floods: NDRF and Central forces provides food, water to affected areas using helicopters

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Officials are urging people to stop spreading misinformation amid Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.</li><li>Both Republicans and Democrats have called out misinformation and false rumors.</li></ul>As rescue workers respond to the destruction in North Carolina after <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-helene-north-carolina-flood-insurance-2024-10">Hurricane Helene</a>, government officials on both sides of the aisle are calling for a misinformation cease-fire.Since the hurricane made <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-helene-slams-florida-power-outages-flooding-2024-9">landfall in Florida</a> and swept up <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/analysts-estimate-up-to-34-billion-damage-from-hurricane-helene-2024-10">to the Carolinas</a>, the storm itself has been swept up in another powerful force: American politics in a presidential election year.Some social media users are sharing unsubstantiated claims, some accompanied by fake AI-generated photos, criticizing the response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the government's disaster relief group, and, by extension, the administration of President Joe Biden."It's not necessarily unusual for emergency situations to be breeding grounds for mis- and disinformation, but I do think we've seen a particularly large amount of false claims proliferating at this time," Mekela Panditharatne, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit policy institute at New York University's School of Law, told Business Insider. "I don't think it's a coincidence that it's so close to a very consequential national election."<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>, the billionaire owner of X and a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-donald-trump-rally-butler-pennsylvania-assassination-attempt-2024-10">vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump</a>, has posted on his social media network saying that "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1842284913279586447">FEMA is both failing to help AND won't let others help</a>" and has reposted similar claims from others.Musk shared another claim that Asheville, North Carolina's airspace had been closed to block recovery efforts, prompting a fact-check from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who said the Federal Aviation Administration was not shutting down the airspace. Buttigieg <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/SecretaryPete/status/1842271678274928964">told</a> Musk to call him with any issues, and after they <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.msnbc.com/inside-with-jen-psaki/watch/-he-called-buttigieg-reveals-details-of-conversation-with-elon-musk-about-storm-response-221029445906">spoke on the phone</a>, Musk posted that flights were underway and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1842350122899739050">thanked</a> Buttigieg.Trump has seized on the disaster to criticize the Biden administration and, by extension, his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, saying the Biden administration "stole the FEMA money" and "spent it all on illegal migrants," the Washington Post reported.His comments came after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said FEMA would need more money from Congress to get it through the rest of hurricane season.A <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/04/no-biden-didnt-take-fema-relief-money-use-migrants-trump-did/">Washington Post</a> investigation found no evidence that the Biden administration used disaster relief funds on the migrant crisis. However, amid hurricane season in 2019, Trump himself approved using $155 million in disaster relief funds for immigration detention at the border, the Post reported.<h2 id="27fd660a-73db-4a3c-9a26-23e6b84ae71d">Bipartisan calls to stop spreading 'junk' information</h2>Following the spike in false rumors, FEMA created a searchable <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.fema.gov/disaster/current/hurricane-helene/rumor-response">fact-checking page</a> to tackle misinformation about the relief efforts. In North Carolina, the Department of Public Safety also shared a fact-check on social media, which Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has reposted.Republicans have also joined the fight against the false information. Kevin Corbin, a Republican member of the North Carolina Senate, issued a plea on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.facebook.com/kevin.corbin/posts/pfbid02VZiZFjsikbNeD3AKwkkpv5nnXpmkxWr5sJRG1G51D6yN82NvywWVaA8M8XjcNdeol">Facebook</a> for people to stop spreading "conspiracy theory junk." He listed bizarre claims that he said he and other officials have heard, ranging from accusations that "FEMA is stealing money from donations" to the "government is controlling the weather from Antarctica.""It is just a distraction to people trying to do their job," Corbin wrote.<div type="image" title="A young man hands supplies down to a woman from the bed of a truck amid hurricane recovery efforts." height="3050" width="4575" msid="113997193" hostid="261" sizebytes="310870"></div>US Sen. Thom Tillis, also a Republican, echoed Corbin's comments on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/thom-tillis-senator-north-carolina-face-the-nation-transcript-10-06-2024/">CBS News</a> on Sunday. He said many of the claims are "not even from people on the ground" and complicate rescue and recovery operations."It's at the expense of the hard-working first responders and people that are just trying to recover their life," Tillis said. "Quite honestly, most of what I've seen out there is a distraction and not helping the core of the effort right here, which is to save lives and start rebuilding."Panditharatne told BI that the spread of misinformation can "dissuade people from seeking the assistance that they need in this time of crisis.""It's perfectly legitimate to express an opinion or criticize the sufficiency of a response, but a number of the claims that we are seeing, particularly from high profile actors and politicians, are baseless, and they're contradicting verifiable facts or unsubstantiated by evidence," she said. "Where that is the case, I think it can divert public information and resources and demoralize officials on the ground."In a crisis, there may be gaps in available information, creating a vacuum for misinformation to "flood in to fill the void," Panditharatne said. However, she added that's not an excuse."I think anyone like Musk, who has a significant influence over the information ecosystem, should feel a sense of responsibility to promote information that doesn't undermine people's ability to access the aid that they need or undermine officials' response to a crisis," she said.The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for X also did not immediately respond.

Both Democrats and Republicans in North Carolina say misinformation is complicating Hurricane Helene relief efforts

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Walmart raised its profit target for the year following "strong" results on Thursday.</li><li>The retailer posted a 4.7% increase in net sales in the quarter to $167.8 billion.</li></ul>Walmart posted better-than-expected sales for its second quarter on Thursday as shoppers continued to flock to the world's biggest retailer.The retailer also raised its profit outlook, guiding for an increase of between 6.5% and 8% in consolidated adjusted operating income, up from the 4% to 6% increase it previously expected.CEO Doug McMillon described the results as "another strong quarter." Shares jumped almost 7.5% in premarket trading, in addition to a near-30% increase since the start of the year. Walmart posted a 4.7% increase in net sales in the quarter to $167.8 billion and a similar jump in total revenues to $169.3 billion on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2024/08/15/walmart-releases-q2-fy25-earnings">Thursday</a>. Those totals include revenues from both Walmart US and its international operations as well as Sam's Club, its warehouse chain.However, comparable sales have been growing at a slower pace. They rose by 4.2% excluding fuel year-on-year for Walmart US in the quarter to July 31. In the same period last year, comparable sales were up 6.4%.The decline was due to a slowdown in the growth of the average ticket, which grew just 0.6% in the quarter year-on-year.Operating income jumped $500 million to $6.6 billion year-on-year.But Walmart US still posted a jump in comparable sales versus the two previous quarters — to the end of April and the end of January — when year-over-year comparable sales were 3.8% and 4.0% respectively.At Walmart US, there had been a growth in the number of upper-income customers as well as a 17% increase in e-commerce sales, it said."Although Walmart's overall growth has slowed a little since last quarter, today's numbers show it still has enough fuel in the tank to give the business a very nice lift," Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, wrote in a note.Jefferies analysts said in a note that Walmart's results were "strong." It beat analysts' consensus for comparable sales at Walmart US and Sam's Club, as well as for gross margin and operating income."In the context of a food sector in which inflation is moderating and where the gains from shopper switching are weakening, this is a solid performance which is testament to Walmart's superior execution," Saunders wrote. "More broadly, the good results will come as a relief to the wider retail sector as poor trading at Walmart would be a bad omen for the rest of the industry."

'Strong' Walmart results come as a relief for the retail sector

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday night.</li><li>Four international and several smaller airports are set to close ahead of the storm arriving.</li></ul>Four international airports are set to suspend commercial flights as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-milton-tampa-mayor-castor-evacuation-orders-die-warning-helene-2024-10">Hurricane Milton</a> approaches Florida, while American Airlines scheduled extra services for evacuees.Milton intensified into a Category 5 storm — the most severe classification — in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday. It later weakened to an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm and is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday night.The National Hurricane Center estimated peak storm surges as high as 15 feet in the Tampa Bay area.Orlando International, Sarasota-Bradenton, St Pete-Clearwater International, and Tampa International airports have all announced closures. All except Orlando are located in counties with mandatory evacuation orders.Tampa International will close Tuesday at 9 a.m., followed by Sarasota-Bradenton at 4 p.m. and St Pete-Clearwater after the last flight departs on Tuesday.As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, close to a third of 158 flights at Tampa International had already been canceled, per FlightAware.Orlando International said it would end commercial operations on Wednesday morning but remain open for emergency, aid, and relief flights. Jet bridges were being tied down in preparation.Several public airports are also closing down, including Peter O. Knight, Tampa Executive, and Plant City.Miami International Airport aid it would remain open but was monitoring the situation and encouraged travelers to confirm their flight status with their airlines.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2024/American-provides-extra-seats-customer-flexibility-in-Florida-ahead-of-Hurricane-Milton-OPS-DIS-10/">American Airlines</a> added several flights to help people evacuate on Monday and Tuesday.It's added 11 flights from Tampa International and one from Sarasota-Bradenton, totaling about 2,000 seats. Passengers can check two bags at no cost.American and other airlines have issued travel alerts and are waiving change fees while some are also waiving cancellation charges.The disruption comes two weeks after <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pete-buttigieg-elon-musk-hurricane-helene-call-best-thing-2024-10">Hurricane Helene</a> devastated the southeastern US with more than 1,000 flights canceled.A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said its Joint Crisis Action Team will handle Hurricane Milton centrally from its command center, "so there is a strong coordinated communication and planning effort."At airports, radars are shut down to protect antennae and their motors from wind damage, while air traffic controllers are evacuated from towers to seek shelter in a lower level of the building."The FAA has personnel on the ground to make sure damaged equipment and services are restored quickly to aid in a rapid response to hard-hit areas," the spokesperson said. "Relief and restoration routes are opened to assist after the storm passes."

You Searched For "relief operations" and got 4 results

Vijayawada floods: NDRF and Central forces provides food, water to affected areas using helicopters

ANI

Both Democrats and Republicans in North Carolina say misinformation is complicating Hurricane Helene relief efforts

Katie Balevic

'Strong' Walmart results come as a relief for the retail sector

Grace Dean

Airports are closing and American Airlines is operating evacuation flights as Hurricane Milton nears Florida

Pete Syme

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