Four more deaths in UP, nationwide death toll reaches 44

New Delhi, Dec 15 (UNI) Extreme cold wave conditions claimed four more lives in Uttar Pradesh, taking the nationwide toll to 44, while three more deaths were reported from Saurashtra and Kutch regions in the past 48 hours.

UP continued to witness winter showers in various parts of the state. The latest deaths were reported from Lalitpur, Siddharthnagar, Sant Kabirnagar and Bareilly.

Various parts of Gujarat reeled under the chill as Nalia in Abdasa Taluka of Kutch district recorded a minimum temprature of 4.4 degrees Celsius which affected normal life while Rajkot recorded 8.8, Amreli 10.1, Bhuj 11.8 and Junagadh 16.8 degrees.

In Delhi, bright sunlight raised the minimum temperature to 9.2 degrees from yesterday's 7 degrees.

Night temperatures dipped at most places in the northwest region.

Amritsar turned out to be the coldest place in the plains recording a minimum temperature of 1.6 degrees, while most places in Haryana also recorded a fall in the mercury.

Shimla and its surrounding areas also reeled under cold wave conditions with the capital town recording 0.9 degrees, two degrees below normal.

Chandigarh city also recorded a fall in the minimum temperature registering 5.8 degrees, one degree below normal.

Rajasthan's only hill station of Mount Abu registered a minimum temperature of minus one (-1) degrees while Churu recorded the second lowest temperature of 3.5 degrees.

The northeast monsoon remained vigorous in Tamil Nadu. A cargo ship stranded off the Kodiakerai coast near Vedaranyam last night even as heavy rains continued to lash the Cauvery delta districts of Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam.

According to reports, the ship from Kakinada Port was caught in a high-tide. Eight people on board swam to safety.

Isolated heavy rains occurred at many places in Tamil Nadu.

Rains or snow occurred at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh.

Very light rains occurred at isolated places in Kerala. Rain or thundershowers have occurred at a few places in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and at isolated places in east Madhya Pradesh and coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Mainly dry weather prevailed over Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, West Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Konkan, Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Telangana, Rayalaseema, Karnataka and Lakshadweep.

Cold wave conditions prevailed at isolated places in east Rajasthan, Saurashtra and northwest Madhya Pradesh.

They were appreciably to markedly above normal in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Gangetic West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, southeast Uttar Pradesh, east Madhya Pradesh, north Chhattisgarh, north Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, north Vidarbha, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

UNI