Widespread rains in northern India today brought relief from the hot weather conditions which had come to prevail over the region in the past few days.
Showers were experienced in national capital Delhi, most parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and also in Uttar Pradesh where rain-related incidents claimed four lives today.
Delhiites lapped up a cool and pleasent day today with intermittent rain, which hit parts of the national capital, dragging the mercury below normal levels.
The city, caught in a dry spell since June 16, received around 3.3-mm rain till 5.30 P.M.
The maximum today was recorded at 35.2 degrees Celsius, which is normal for this time of the year.
Most parts of Punjab and Haryana, meanwhile, were drenched in moderate to heavy rainfall which saw the mercury dropping by as much as seven notches below normal in certain places across the two neighbouring states.
While Patiala in Punjab received 99.4 mm rainfall, Haryana's Ambala saw 41.1-mm rain.
Isolated areas in Rajasthan received light to moderate rainfall today with Viratnagar, near state capital Jaipur, registering a maximum of 15-cm rainfall. Srimadhopur, Phagi, Sajjangarh and Patan recorded 11, 10, 9 and 8-cm rain from yesterday till morning today, MeT sources added.
In Uttar Pradesh, the south-west monsoon remained normal, with moderate to heavy rain or thundershowers occurring at a few places.
Officials in state capital Lucknow said they had received reports of lightning strikes claiming two lives in Azamgarh district and another in Barabanki. A fourth casualty in Barabanki occurred due to a house collapsing in the rain.
MeT sources said that the chief rainfall was recorded in: Katerniaghat (9-cm), Akbarpur and Regoli (7-cm each) and in Amethi, Haidergarh, Pharenda (6-cm each).
According to Central Water Commission sources, Quano river was flowing above danger mark at Chandradeepghat (Gonda) and Mukhlispur (Sant Kabirnagar) although its waters were receding.
But the Sharda continues to rise and flow above the danger level at Palia Kalan while Ghaghra was once again on a surge above the red line at Elgin Bridge.
