7 die in UP as moderate to heavy rain lashes North India

New Delhi, July 10 (UNI) Seven people died in Uttar Pradesh in rain-related incidents during the last 24 hours as moderate to heavy rain lashed most parts of North India with the monsoon remaining vigorous in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana and active in Punjab.

Heavy downpour was reported from almost all UP divisions including Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Faizabad, Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Moradabad and Bareilly.

According to the Central Water Commission in Lucknow, all rivers including, Ganga, Yamuna, Ghagra, Gomti, Rapti, Ken and Sharda were rising, but were still below the danger level Following the deaths, the death toll in rain related incidents rose to 35 in Uttar Pradesh.

In the capital thick monsoon clouds, coupled with cool North Westerly winds, continued to provide relief from the scorching heat of the last week even as the weatherman forecast more rains during the day, following heavy showers yesterday.

Rains were reported from various parts of Rajasthan though the state capital did nor experience any rains. Temperatures in the state dropped by three-four degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature in Jaipur was 26.6 degrees Celsius and the humidity was at 68 per cent.

Light rains continued last night as well as in the morning in the state.

The national capital yesterday received its first monsoon rains as the South West monsoon advanced into Delhi and parts of West Uttar Pradesh and parts of Haryana yesterday.

''The Northern Limit of Monsoon as on today, passes through 24 degrees N/64 degrees E latitude, 24 degrees N/68 degrees E longtitude from Udaipur, Gwalior, Agra, Delhi, Ambala and Amritsar,'' the weather office said.

The weather office said nearly 20 mm of rainfall has been recorded in the national capital till 1130 hrs.

The southwest monsoon has further advanced into the remaining parts of Punjab and Haryana, thus covering the entire area, according to the Weather Office in Chandigarh.

It predicted rain or thundershowers at most places in Himachal Pradesh and many places in Punjab and Haryana and warned of heavy rain at isolated places in the region.

In Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar experienced its first monsoon showers last night.

A spokesman for the India Meteorological Department (IMD) told UNI monsoon showers finally reached the Kashmir valley last evening.

It brought some respite to the people who were facing heat wave conditions for about a week with both night and day temperatures up by several degrees from normal.

He said 9.4 mm rainfall was recorded in Srinagar since last evening. The minimum temperature, which remained one degree above normal, was recorded at 19.5 degree Celsius this morning, he added.

UNI TEAM PA RP ND1820