UP under jaws of cold waves; toll at 77

Lucknow, Jan 5: Uttar Pradesh continues to reel under extreme cold wave conditions, as the toll mounted to 77 following two more overnight deaths.

The fresh casualties were reported from Kaushambi, which includes the death of a 10-year-old girl. The biting cold and the dense fog blanket during early and late hours has thrown the normal life out of gear hitting rail, road and air traffic badly. According to Met department, Agra, Faizabad, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow and Meerut divisions has recorded a considerable dip in the night temperatures.

Taj city remained the coldest for the third consecutive day at 4 degrees Celsius, which was 3 degrees below normal.

The state capital witnessed a cold and dry weather with 5.3 degrees, whereas, Kanpur, Bareilly, Gorakhpur were at 6.6, 7.4 and 5.8 degrees respectively.

Besides disturbing normal life, the chilly weather had also affected vegetation.

UNI