Rising mercury: At least one dead as heat wave sweeps across the province

Meteorological department official says thunderstorm expected on Wednesday.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN/ PESHAWAR: At least one person died and eight others were brought to the District Headquarters Teaching Hospital, DI Khan after falling ill in the blistering heat on Monday.

Muhammad Siraj, a tailor by profession, was brought to the hospital after being found unconscious inside his shop on Circular Road, DI Khan city. Zubair Khan, who found Siraj, said the latter fainted due to the heat and absence of electricity.

Residents of the district complained of low voltage, tripping and long hours of load-shedding which, they said, has made life miserable for them.



Meanwhile, a main cable from Chashma Barrage was rendered dysfunctional due to some fault and supply of electricity to Balut Sharif and other villages of DI Khan remained suspended for over 12 hours.

Looming storm

The ongoing heat wave is expected to continue for the next two days, following which a low to medium-intensity dust and thunderstorm is said to hit Peshawar valley and other parts of the province.

Meteorological Office Peshawar Director Mushtaq Ali Shah told The Express Tribune the hot weather is expected to continue on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, on Wednesday evening a dust storm will hit Peshawar, making the weather pleasant for a while, according to him.

“The temperature in the city was recorded at 42 degrees Celsius on Monday which is quite normal for the month of June, but coupled with the heat wave, the weather has become unbearable,” he said.

“Due to the snow on mountain ranges melting before the monsoon, there are very little chances of flooding this year,” said Shah. “A meeting of various weather experts in the country was recently held, in which reports from Chinese and Indian Met offices were examined thoroughly. All the experts came to the conclusion that monsoon was expected to be normal this year and it would also start on time towards the end of June and start of July.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2013.