New Delhi

Heat scorches North, 4 dead

New Delhi: The North felt the onslaught of the blistering heat on Saturday as Delhi recorded a season’s high of 41 degree Celsius and the mercury hovered near the 45-degree mark in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh while it claimed two lives each in Jharkhand and West Bengal.

There were also reports of another seven deaths due to sunstroke in Orissa which were sent to the central control room at Bhubaneswar.

The weather office declared a ‘heat wave’ in Gujarat with temperatures over five degrees above the normal in many parts of the State.

Bokaro Steel City in Jharkhand scorched at a maximum of 45 C, the desert town of Barmer was 44.9 C, Varanasi was 44.5 C while Ahmedabad in Gujarat recorded 43 C.

Hisar was the hottest place in the North at 43.2 C while most towns of Punjab and Haryana including Chandigarh recorded temperatures beyond 40 degrees with a weather forecast of duststorms in the entire region.

Outages and erratic water supply added to the woes of the common man, especially in power-short U.P. and Delhi.

Police recovered an unidentified body at Bagmundi in Purulia district of West Bengal where the temperature was 45.1 degree Celsius while Mohammed Sheikh died at a tea stall in Central Kolkata due to sunstroke, officials said.

Patna in Bihar dropped two degrees to 40 while Gaya continued to be the hottest place in the State at 43.1 C.

U.P. also saw the mercury rising with Sultanpur 44.4 C, Allahabad 44.3 C and Lucknow 42 (all three degrees above normal). -- PTI

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