Snowfall in HP; death toll due to heat in Odisha mounts to 17

NEW DELHI, May 12:
Moderate rains in parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and fresh snowfall in Himachal Pradesh kept temperature subdued in North, while in Eastern India two more deaths were reported from Odisha due to ongoing heat wave.
In the national capital, temperature continued to hover close to 35 degree Celsius for the second day running today as partly cloudy sky and light showers in the evening kept mercury in check.
The national capital received 0.7 mm rain between 8:30 in the morning to 5:30 in the evening.
According to the Meteorological department, maximum temperature was registered at 35.3 deg C today which was four notches below the normal level.
Minimum temperature was recorded at 25 deg C which was normal for this part of the year.
In Odisha, the death toll due to sunstroke mounted to 17 with reports of two more deaths — one each from Mayurbhanj and Balangir, official sources said.
Four sun stroke deaths were confirmed in Mayurbhanj district, three in Balangir, two in Keonjhar and one each in Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Khurda district, according to sources in the special relief commissioner’s office.
While the maximum temperature shot up to 44 deg C at Sonepur from 40 degree yesterday, state capital Bhubaneswar sizzled at 43.2 deg C.
Light to moderate rains lashed parts of Punjab and Haryana leading to a drop in temperature in the two states.
Chandigarh, which was lashed by rains, recorded a maximum of 32 deg C, seven notches below the normal level, a local MeT department report said.
However, Uttar Pradesh continued to reel under scorching heat wave today. Allahabad recorded a maximum of 43.5 deg C, Lucknow 42.5 deg C and Varanasi sizzled at 42.5 deg C.
Basti was hottest in the State recording maximum temperature at 44.0 deg C.
Parts of Rajasthan also received light to moderate rains which brought down the day temperatures. Kota was the hottest place in the State with a maximum of 40.1 deg C.
Most parts of Himachal Pradesh were lashed by rains while higher reaches in tribal areas and Rohtang and Kunzam passes had another spell of moderate snowfall, causing further drop in mercury.
The Rohtang Pass (13,050 ft), gateway to tribal Lahaul valley, which was opened on May 4, experienced fresh snowfall and traffic was interrupted as the Pass was covered under 30 cm of snow.
The adjoining hill resort of Manali was wettest in the region with 40 mm of rains till this evening. (PTI)