Nine dead as heavy rains lash Malwa,735 acres under water

“The water supply has been discontinued from Sirhind canal head and water level will drop by Sunday night. Only then the breaches can be plugged,” Brar said,adding that only breach that had been plugged was at Doomwali minor.

The report prepared by the district administration mentioned five deaths caused by lightning and thunderstorm on Saturday. A girl died due to lightning strike in Parasram Nagar area of Bathinda. In a wall collapse caused by inclement weather in the same locality,one Raja Ram died and a woman,Arshita,was injured. Three others — Shivraj Singh of Bambeeha village,Kesho Rani of Aklia Kalan village and a child,Kuldeep,of Nehianwala — died due to lightning.

Bathinda Chief Agriculture Officer Paramjit Singh Sandhu said the hailstorm caused damage to the cotton crop sown during the last couple of days. “There has been damage to the cotton crop that was sown yesterday or day before as the seed was yet to germinate. It is suspected that in Talwandi Sabo and Rama Mandi area alone more than 5,000 hectares of such crop was damaged,” Sandhu said.

The breaches and inclement weather spelled trouble for cotton growers.

“The cotton crop in my 10 acres that I had sown about 10 days back has been inundated due to breach in Doomwali minor,” said Surjit Singh,a farmer of Baho Yatri village.

In Muktsar,lightning killed four persons,two each in Fatehpur Mania and Punjawa villages. Muktsar ADC (Development) Amit Dhaka said a 13-year-old boy was among the deceased.