2 killed as thunderstorm lashes Punjab

A woman was among two persons killed due to thunderstorms today as strong winds blew across many areas of Punjab, disrupting normal life and snapping power lines at some places.
In a mishap at Sirhind railway station in Fatehgarh Sahib district, a woman was killed when a shed under which she was waiting collapsed after a tree fell on it uprooted by strong winds.
Parkash Kaur, a resident of Bassi Pathana, was killed while a relative of hers was injured in the mishap, railway sources said.
The duo had come to the station to catch a train to Amritsar where they were to visit the Golden Temple.

According to sources, two children who were waiting under the shed received minor injuries in the accident.
The uprooted tree, part of which fell on to the train tracks after severing electric wires, led to railway traffic being disrupted for some time and also affected power supply at the station.

Elsewhere, a man was killed when another uprooted tree fell on an autorickshaw while he was inside the vehicle on the Patiala-Rajpura road, near Kauli.
Nearly 200 eucalyptus trees were uprooted in the thunderstorm that lashed Kauli village on the Patiala- Chandigarh state highway.
According to police, vehicular traffic on the said highway was disrupted for five hours in the heavy rain.

The Union territory of Chandigarh was lashed by showers measuring 40-mm which were accompanied by strong winds that briefly snapped power supply to many areas of the city.
Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana and Patiala in Punjab and Panchkula, Ambala, Kurukshetra and Bhiwani in Haryana also received showers.
According to a MeT officials, the change in the weather was due a western disturbance active over the northern region.