MITHI: Six cows perished when lightning struck a herd in Raisar village of Tharparkar district on Tuesday night as widespread rains coupled with thunderstorm continued to lash most areas of the district for a third consecutive day, Wednesday.

Intermittent moderate to heavy spells of rain had started on Monday evening lashing Mithi, Kaloi, Naukot, Chelhar, Diplo, Islamkot, Bhalwa, Dahli and many other areas. Many rural areas of Mirpurkhas district also received light rain on Tuesday bringing down the temperatures and providing relief to growers.

A maximum of 62mm rain was reported from Mithi while other areas of Tharparkar district also received several heavy spells during the last three days.

After a long spell of widespread heavy rains lasting more than two weeks and ending in the first week of September, growers of Tharparkar had returned to their lands from other areas and started cultivating their crops. The fresh spell was welcomed by them as, according to them, this would add to the soil fertility.

Local Met officials have forecast more rains in Tharparkar and Mirpurkhas district as well as chances of light rain in Hyderabad district in the coming days.

Light to moderate spells of rain also lashed parts of Mirpurkhas district on Tuesday causing a drop in high temperatures.

While Mirpurkhas city remained dry, many towns and villages of the district received showers turning weather conditions pleasant.

Power outages hit the areas soon after it started raining. Most areas suffered several hours of outages in addition to the scheduled loadshedding disrupting Muharram congregations.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2016