Heat wave conditions continue in lower hills of HP

Heat wave conditions continued unabated in the lower hills of Himachal Pradesh, with Una in the foothills registering the hottest temperature at 43.6 degrees Celsius.

The lower hills reeled under scorching sun as mercury stayed above normal Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Kangra recorded the maximum temperatures at 40.7 degrees Celsius, 40.4 degrees Celsius, and 39 degrees Celsius, followed by Sundernagar 38 degrees Celsius, Dharamsala 33.6 degrees Celsius, Shimla 27.5 degrees Celsius, Kalpa 20 degrees Celsius and Keylong 15.3 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperatures rose by one to two degrees and Una was hottest during the nightwith the mercury rising to 25.0 degrees Celsius, followed by Nahan 24.2 degrees Celsius, Palampur 23 degrees Celsius, Dharamsala 22.4 degrees Celsius, Shimla 18.8 degrees Celsius, Manali 10 degrees Celsius, Kalpa 8.6 degrees Celsius and Keylong 4.6 degrees Celsius.

The local MeT office has forecast rains or thundershowers in the mid hills and rains or snow in the higher hills for five days from May 28 to June 1 and rains and thundershowers in the lower hills on May 30 and 31.

The Shimla-Kalka train was delayed by over 90 minutes as there was no water and it departed from Shimla at 4.00 PM against the scheduled time at 2.30 PM.

We require about 550 litres of water but there was no water today and the train stated only after water was arranged," an official of the railways said.

President of Shimla Tourism Industry and Stakeholders Association M K Seth said that the association had warned the administration and the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) about the possible water shortage.