Sun god shows no mercy; Heatwave claims 34 more lives

New Delhi, June 11 (UNI) In the absence of the monsoon, the heatwave continued to wreak havoc over north and central India as it killed 13 people in Uttar Pradesh, nine each in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi and three in Punjab during the last 24 hours.

According to reports, three people each died due to the heatwave in Agra and Kaushambi district, while two died at Mahoba. Lucknow, Unnao, Ferozabad, Pratapgarh and Etah disticts accounted for one casualty each.

People of UP might get some respite from the wilting heatwave as the monsoon is expected to hit the parched state in the next 3-4 days.

However, the mercury had decreased considerably since yesterday following sporadic pre-monsoon showers in some parts of UP.

State Meteorological Centre Director K P Kulshrestha said the monsoon had already reached Purnea in Bihar.

Banda was the hottest at 45.5 degrees, three notches above normal while Allahabad wilted at 40.9 and Lucknow at 38.4 degrees (-4).

Meanwhile, the weatherman forecast rain or thundershowers in the next 24 hours in Moradabad, Bareilly, Meerut, Lucknow, Faizabad and Gorakhpur divisions.

Three people died of heatstroke in Punjab as scorching heatwave swept north-west India, although the temperatures fell at many places today.

One death was reported in Rajpura and two were in Hoshiarpur.

With these deaths, the death toll due to the heatwave during this summer rose to 13 in Punjab so far.

Hot surface winds blew across Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh during the day even as temperatures hovered below normal at many places in the region.

A severe heatwave prevailed in Amritsar, which recorded 45.8 degrees, five degrees above normal. Ludhiana showed 40.8 degrees, Patiala 40.6 and Chandigarh 38.4 degrees.

The heatwave, currently sweeping Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, is likely to abate in the the next two days, according to the Weather Office here.

In Haryana, Hisar recorded 45.8 degrees, Ambala 38.8 while Karnal registered 37.0.

The heatwave conditions also prevailed in some parts of Himachal Pradesh, with Una recording 41.4 degrees, making it the hottest place in the state.

Shimla recorded the maximum at 28.5 degrees which was five degrees above normal.

The Met office has predicted rain or thundershowers at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh and duststorm or thundrstorm at isolated places in Haryana and Punjab where day temperatures are likely to fall during the next 24 hours.

Even people in Kashmir continued to swelter in summer heat as mercury shot up further today to record the hottest day of the season in the Valley so far.

While the day temperature in Jammu came down by about four degrees, the mercury shot up by four degrees during the night.

Weather office here said the maximum temperature in Srinagar was recorded at 34.5 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature stood at 15.1 degrees.

The maximum temperature in Jammu was recorded at 42.3 degrees while the minimum stood at 30.8 degrees.

The desert state of Rajasthan reeled under the heatwave with the barometer soaring to 46 degrees at Sriganganagar and Churu making them the hottest places in Rajasthan even today.

Besides this, Jaipur and Pilani recorded the maximum temperature at 44 degrees followed by Kota and Bikaner at 43, Jaisalmer and Ajmer at 42, Barmer 41 and Jodhpur 40 degrees.

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