Five killed due to lightning in Bihar, Churu sizzles at 49 deg

Five persons were killed in a lightning strike in Bihar's Katihar district even as the intense heatwave continued across several parts of the country with Churu in Rajasthan recording a high of 49 degrees Celsius.
In the national capital, hot and humid conditions prevailed with the mercury soaring to 45 degrees Celsius in some parts of the city.
The Safdarjung observatory, recording of which is considered official for the city, registered a maximum temperature of 43.9 degrees Celsius, three notches above the normal, said a MeT department official.
The humidity levels oscillated between 65 and 18 per cent.
Light to moderate rain and thundershowers occurred at isolated places in eastern part of Uttar Pradesh.

Allahabad was the hottest place in the state, where the mercury touched a high of 46.3 degrees Celsius.

According to the MeT department, the weather was mainly dry in western Uttar Pradesh. Rainfall was recorded in Bansgaon, Salempur, Deoria, Khalilabad, Basti and Sultanpur.
Intense heatwave swept Punjab and Haryana with Hisar being the hottest place in both the states.
Hisar in Haryana sizzled at 47.1 degrees Celsius, five notches above normal, as per the MeT department report. Narnaul recorded its maximum at 46.5 degrees Celsius.
Union Territory Chandigarh recorded its maximum temperature at 42.5 degrees Celsius. In Punjab, Amritsar's maximum temperature settled at 43.4 degrees Celsius.

In Rajasthan, severe heat wave conditions prevailed at most of the places with Churu recorded the season's highest temperature at 49 degrees Celsius followed by 48.3 degrees Celsius in Sriganganagar and 47 degrees Celsius in Jaisalmer.
In Odisha, blistering heat persisted with the mercury breaching the 40 degrees Celsius mark in at least 11 places in the state, where sunstroke has claimed ten lives this summer.
Balangir became the hottest place in the state recording 44.7 degrees Celsius, while maximum temperature at Titlagarh, also in western Odisha, was 44.2 degrees Celsius, the MeT office said.
In Bihar, light to moderate rainfall at many places in northern part of the state eased the hot weather condition.

The maximum temperature in Patna dropped to 37 degrees Celsius.
Five persons were killed and two others injured in separate incidents of lightning in Katihar district, officials said.
In Telangana, Hyderabad and many other towns continued to sizzle with the highest maximum temperature of 44.8 degrees Celsius being reported at Adilabad, according to the MeT department.