Mercury soars in north India, rain brings relief in Tamil Nadu

The northern parts of the country continued to reel under the scorching sun today with Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana recording maximum temperatures close to 45 degrees Celsius and above, even as rain brought the mercury down in Tamil Nadu.
Bikaner in Rajasthan was the hottest place recording a high of 46.6 degree Celsius. Few places in the state like Ajmer, Jaipur and Chittorgarh, however, received light rain.
In Punjab and Haryana, Hisar once again sizzled at 45 degrees Celsius. Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, braved a hot day at 41.4 degrees Celsius.
The maximum temperature rose to 43.4 degrees Celsius in the national capital with the weatherman predicting dust storm and thunderstorm towards the night.

A man has been suspected to have died of heat stroke in Delhi with police recovering his body from a pavement this morning.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD), meanwhile, said the heat wave is expected to spread over more parts of north and central India, including Delhi, in the next five days but the conditions are likely to gradually subside during the remaining part of the month.

"These conditions are likely to spread over to some more areas comprising parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat and north Madhya Maharashtra during May 17-21. They are likely to abate gradually during the remaining part of May," it said in its forecast.

The Telangana disaster management department said as many as 300 heat-related deaths have been reported in the state since the beginning of the summer season this year.
"Nalgonda district tops the chart with 90 deaths followed by Mahbubnagar with 44," an official in the disaster management control room said.
The highest temperature was recorded at 44 degrees Celsius at Ramagundam and Adilabad in the state, IMD said.
In a relief from the searing heat, good rainfall was recorded in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Tiruchirappalli, Dinidigul, Madurai, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts of Tamil Nadu. Kerala witnessed slight drizzle in few areas.
The Met department added that rain and thundershower coupled with gusty surface wind is likely to lash some places of Odisha by tomorrow under the impact of a well marked low pressure area over southwest Bay of Bengal.