Rain havoc kills 71 across country

New Delhi, Mar 10 (UNI) Rains lashed several parts of the country, killing 39 persons in Madhya Pradesh, 27 in Maharashtra and 5 in Rajasthan so far, with the most extensive damage having occurred in Madhya Pradesh.

In Madhya Pradesh, downpours extensively damaged wheat, gram and lentil crop. Commissioner (Agricultural Production) Iqbal Ahmed told UNI that crops were affected by showers and hail in 34 of 48 districts.

''The affected area is 35,000 hectares. At least 113 persons were injured, 158 animals perished and about 2,100 rural residences sustained damage,'' he added.

The crop damage percentage ranged from two to 60 per cent and farmers would be compensated after an assessment under the Revenue Book Circular, he said.

Precipitation in March broke a 70-year record as about 4.5 cm was recorded overnight. The figure was 3.5 cm on March 7, 1936.

Regional Meteorological Centre Director D P Dubey said the unseasonal weather was due to wind circulation in the upper atmosphere near Kutch.

''The weather might begin clearing from tomorrow. Hail may lash Sagar, Satna and Rewa tomorrow and later the circulation will enter Uttar Pradesh,'' he added.

In Maharashtra, hailstorms and unseasonal rains, accompanied by lightning and thunder, have claimed 27 lives, and left a trail of disaster across fields in central and western parts of the state, destroying standing crops worth crores of rupees, since March 3.

Fourteen people have died in central Maharashtra's backward region of Marathwada, while 13 lost lives in western region of Vidarbha, police and official sources said.

A report from Aurangabad said that of the 14 deaths reported in central Maharashtra, eight people had died of lightning, which claimed another 12 of the total 13 lives lost in western Maharashtra since yesterday.

Standing crops worth Rs 9 crore have been damaged in 25,000 hectares of land in Marathwada in the last 8 days, deputy divisional commissioner(revenue) Dileep Shinde said at Aurangabad.

In Rajasthan, hailstorms and rains continued to lash the state for the third day today. According to police, one Rajesh Banjara died on the way to the hospital after he was hit by a falling electric pole in Baran district. Four other people have died in such incidents over the last two days.

In the national capital, fresh spell of rainfall brought about a sudden turnaround in the weather, sending the mercury plummeting to 22.5 Degree Celsius, the lowest in the last over a month.

About 1.2 mm of rainfall was recorded in the capital till 1730 hours, the weather office said.

In Uttar Pradesh, light rainfall experienced at several places during the last 24 hrs saw mercury plummet by several notches. The state meteorological office said here the UP capital recorded a maximum temperature of 20.8 degrees Celsius, which was 10 degrees below normal.

Eds: here pick up suitably from earlier series.

UNI Team PK HT2025