PESHAWAR, Sept 24: Strong winds followed by heavy rain lashed the provincial metropolis late on Tuesday night and on Wednesday, bringing a pleasant change in the weather.

The local Met office recorded 17.2mm rain which brought down the temperature to 21 degrees Celsius. Heavily overcast conditions prevailed in the city throughout the day.

The gusty winds and dust-storm, blowing northeast, overtook the city around 10pm on Tuesday before the rain came. Met office sources said the maximum speed of the wind was 65km per hour.

The windstorm caused power failure in different parts of the city. In some localities, the power supply could not be restored till early morning.

It also rained in Charsadda, Mardan and Nowshera districts.

More rains have been forecast in the NWFP, Punjab and Kashmir for the next 24 hours.

Our Swabi Correspondent adds: A hailstorm accompanied by torrential rain lashed the district on Tuesday night and early Wednesday.

The storm destroyed the standing maize crop and damaged vegetables and sugarcane crop. It also uprooted trees and caused power breakdown for hours.

However, the rain brought a pleasant change in the weather.

The police said two cars had collided with each other near the Topi bridge, while a flying coach and a pick-up met an accident on Swabi-Topi road. No casualty was reported.