Heat claims 7 lives in Punjab, showers lash north India

Seven deaths were reported due to heat wave in Punjab and a girl died in a thunderstorm in Uttar Pradesh as light to moderate rains brought the much needed relief from the blistering hot weather prevailing in the region for the last few days.
Scorching heat claimed seven lives, including that of two ITBP personnel, in the past two days in Punjab where showers lashed many areas today bringing down temperatures by several notches.
Under partly cloudy skies, heat in Delhi abated as mercury dropped by a few degrees and the weatherman predicted rains in the city.
The maximum temperature settled at 40 degrees Celsius and the minimum at 30.6 degrees Celsius, down from yesterday's 41.7 and 32.7 degrees Celsius, Met department said.

Humidity was recorded between 66 and 41 per cent, the Met department said and predicted possibility of light rain and thunderstorm in some areas of the city.
In Punjab, Ludhiana registered a maximum temperature of 37 degrees Celsius while Patiala recorded 36 degrees Celsius and Amritsar 37.8 degrees Celsius.

In Haryana, Ambala recorded a high of 36.2 degrees Celsius, Narnaul 36.5 and Hisar 40 degrees Celsius.
The Met department said Faridkot (25 mm) received the most rainfall in Punjab followed by Ferozepur 14 mm, Moga 13.2 mm, Hoshiarpur 7 mm, Phagwara 6 mm, Muktsar 5.6 mm, Barnala 5.5 mm, Jalandhar 5 mm and Amritsar 4.2 mm.

In Haryana, Kaithal got 12 mm rains, Yamunanagar 6 mm and Panchkula 2.2 mm.
Light showers occurred in Chandigarh (2.4 mm) which recorded a maximum of 35.5 degrees Celsius.
In Uttar Pradesh, Handia recorded 5 cm rainfall followed by Karchana 4 cm, Allahabad, Chunar, Salon, Kunda, Purwa, Varanasi 3 cms each; Phoolpur, Baberu, Mirzapur 2 cms each and Barra, Mariahu, Nighasan, Churk and Jalaun 1 cm each.
A 13-year-old girl was killed and 12 persons were injured due to thunderstorm in Bhulaipur village of Bhadohi district in the state last night.
Heat wave conditions subsided in Rajasthan with the influx of heavy moisture from south-west direction.

While Kota recorded a high of 41.6 degrees Celsius, maximum temperature in Jaisalmer was 41.5, Jaipur, Barmer and Bikaner 40.5 degrees Celsius each. Elsewhere the maximum temperature varied from 36 to 39 degrees Celsius.