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Himachal Pradesh lashed by snow and rain

Staff Correspondent

“Unseasonal rains across Punjab and Haryana likely to destroy wheat crops”

Photo: AFP

Not in Venice: A commuter makes his way along a waterlogged street after a heavy downpour in Amritsar on Saturday. Pre-monsoon showers brought relief from hot and humid conditions in many parts of northern India.

SHIMLA: Cold wave conditions returned to Himachal Pradesh on Saturday after an active western disturbance brought lots of fresh rain and snowfall to the entire hill State.

Residents of Shimla were forced to stay indoors and take out heavy woollens. The picturesque hill station was lashed by ice-cold winds and non-stop rain all day.

The high-altitude areas of Kullu, Chamba, Kinnaur, Lahaul Spiti and Kangra districts had a fresh spell of mild snow for the third day in a row even as widespread rain lashed the lower areas of the State.

The weatherman said the minimum temperature in several areas of the tribal districts had fallen below freezing point with Kinnaur’s district headquarters, Rekong Peo, recording a night temperature of 1 degree Celsius. Rohtang Pass and other important passes, valleys, mountain peaks and higher altitude areas also had another spell of snow, which triggered landslides, affecting vehicular traffic at several points.

The farmers here are a worried lot since the sudden change in climate followed by snow and hailstorm is likely to affect the stone fruit and apple crops in the State. Traffic on National Highway-22 between Rekong Peo and Pooh has been disrupted due to landslides at Garam Pani and Purbani Jhula for the past four days.

A report from Dharamshala said the entire Kangra district is in the grip of a cold wave after the Dhauladhar mountain ranges, overlooking the Kangra Valley, had a mild snowfall and rain in the lower regions.

The minimum temperature in Shimla stood at 7.4 degrees, while the maximum dropped to 11.7 compared to 13 degrees recorded on Friday.

Temperature drops

Chandigarh: Temperatures dropped sharply across Punjab and Haryana on Saturday as rains lashed the region.

Amritsar was the coldest place in the plains recording a maximum of 19.8 degrees Celsius, 11 degrees below normal as the city was lashed by 25 mm of rain. The minimum there also settled well below normal at 14.5 C.

Chandigarh was lashed by 16 mm of rain and the maximum here dropped by seven degrees at 25.2 C, the Met department said here. Ambala recorded a high of 24.8 C after being lashed by 7 mm of rain while the maximum at Karnal settled at 25 C after receiving light rain.

Sonepat, Bhiwani, Narnaul, Kurukshetra and Kaithal were among other places in the State to receive rain.

Ludhiana saw maximum dip to 25 C after receiving 5 mm of rain while the high at Patiala dropped to 25.6 C. Several other places in Punjab were also lashed by rains.

Shimla had a very cold day recording a high of 11.7 C as it was lashed by 17 mm of showers. The Met has forecast light to moderate rain or thunder showers at many places in Punjab and at a few places in Haryana during the next two days.

Hail storm or thunder squall with wind speed exceeding 45 kmph is likely at isolated places in the two States by Monday.

Unseasonal rains are threatening to destroy wheat crops across Punjab and Haryana as the harvesting season is set to begin in these leading agrarian states from April 13.

“There has been rain all across the state. If it continues to rain and is accompanied by strong winds, then it can cause great damage to wheat crops,” Haryana Agriculture Minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha told PTI.

Moderate to heavy rains lashed the States since early morning today, where harvesting of wheat crop is usually in full vigour around the Baisakhi festival (the festival of harvest).

Haryana’s Director Agriculture, Sumita Mishra said that reports from various places in the state were still pouring in and estimates of damage, if any, would be known over the next few days.

“We hope there is no hail or strong winds. If it continues to rain, it may delay the harvesting by some days. We are closely monitoring the situation,” she said.

Her Punjab counterpart B. S. Sidhu said that wheat was sown over 34.8 lakh hectares in the State and they were hoping the weather clears soon. “This morning I checked up the condition of the crop from various places including Amritsar, Ferozepur and Muktsar, where there has not been much damage as of now. We all know strong winds and thunder squalls should not accompany these rains, which can cause extensive damage,” Sidhu said. -- PTI

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