Nine people perished on Thursday as a dust storm lashed Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh as north India reeled under heatwave with mercury crossing the 45-degree mark at some places.
A dust storm swept across the trans-Ganga region on Thursday killing nine people, including two women and a girl child, in Soraon tehsil, 40 km from Allahabad. Trees were uprooted and houses toppled as the gale winds left behind a trail of destruction.
In Rajasthan the heatwave tightened its grip with Barmer enduring a hot day at 46.8ºC against Wednesday’s 45.4 ºC followed by Kota at 45.6ºC.
Delhi too braved a hot day as the mercury remained above the 41-degree mark.
Searing heat prevailed in Punjab and Haryana with Hisar sizzling at 43.5ºC, three notches above normal, followed by Gurgaon at 42.8ºC, two degrees above normal.
Akola in the Vidarbha region remained the hottest place across the country at 47.1º C.
Lightning kills 8 in Malda
At least eight persons were killed in lightning as a thunderstorm lashed different parts of Malda district of West Bengal on Thursday evening.
Lightning kills 8 in Malda
At least eight persons were killed in lightning as a thunderstorm lashed different parts of Malda district of West Bengal on Thursday evening.
District Magistrate Sridhar Ghosh said that while four persons were killed in Ratua block, three died in Old Malda and another in Harischandrapur.
All the eight were out in the open when they were struck by the thunder bolt.
Three children also died after lightning struck them at Kevali village in Bihar’s Jamui district on Thursday, police said.
The lightning struck the children when they went to an orchard to pick up mangoes during a storm, they said.