Lightning claims 10 lives in Marathwada, monsoon active over south

New Delhi, Sep 16 (UNI) The death toll in lightning-related incidents in Maharashtra's Marathwada region during the last 24 hours mounted 10 while Kerala, Laskshadweep and Andhra Pradesh experienced widespread rains as southwest monsoon is still active in these states.

Out of the 10 killed, five were from Hingoli district, four in Jalna and one in Ambajogai tehsil of Beed district after a heavy downpour accompanied by winds and lightning lashed the region during the last 24-hours.

Minimum and maximum temperatures in several mid and low hills of Himachal Pradesh continued to dip with no report of rain or snow from any part of the state during the last 24 hours.

Almost all places in the state received no rain or snowfall till 0830 hrs today, providing a respite from wet conditions.

However, night and day temperatures in shimla plummeted with people being forced to use their woollens.

Heavy rains lashed Rajkot in Gujarat while light showers were recorded in Jabalpur and Indore divisions in Madhya Pradesh during the last 24 hours.

Rajkot recorded 25 mm of rainfall in just one hour, taking the season's total to 790 mm. A report from Junagadh said one person was killed when lightning struck him at Alidar village in Kodinar taluka of the district.

After two days of cool weather, warm and humid conditions returned to the national capital. High humidity of nearly 60 per cent led to a rise in maximum temperature to 35 degrees Celsius.

The south-west monsoon has been vigorous in coastal Andhra Pradesh and active in coastal Karnataka and Kerala. It has, however, subdued over Asom, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

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