Chandigarh, May 24: Lightning claimed life of one person in Punjab while normal life was badly affected as several parts of north India were lashed by a severe thunderstorm followed by heavy rains last night. A 60-year-old labourer, identified as Lal Chand, was charred to death as lightning struck him in Marrianwala locality in Batala town. In another incident, a baby girl of a migrant labourer was burnt alive when high velocity winds sparked off a fire in a slum cluster in Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district yesterday, reports reaching here said. Chandigarh was lashed by heavy rains last night and normal life almost came to a standstill here. Duststorm followed by rains caused power breakdowns for over two hours while trees and electricity poles were uprooted at many places. One person was injured as a tree branch fell over him. The vehicular traffic in the city and along the national highway at Zirakpur, Amabla and Kurukshetra moved at a snail's pace due to heavy rains.

A tourist bus turned turtle at Ramgarh in Panchkula district last night and nearly 30 people suffered injuries.
Bureau Report