Four people were killed and close to 5,000 forced out of their homes amid heavy rain and flooding in central and southern Chile, and the evacuation figure could rise further, the government said on Thursday. Of those killed, two died in landslides, one was struck by a boulder and another was hit by a falling tree. Television images showed streets turned into rivers in the port town of Valparaiso, where 93 mm (3.7 inches) of rain fell in 24 hours during two storm fronts.

Monday and Tuesday have been the coolest days during the month of May this year in the region. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts the weather is going to more or less remain equally pleasant for the next three days-Wednesday, Thursday and Friday-as well.

PADDY farmers in Patuakhali and Barguna are now prying for rain as absence of rainfall, lack of normal flash flood and drying up of the six major rivers at many points are affecting the irrigation. The farmers said they were now gripped with serious anxiety. The farmers said the irri and aus plants were withering and turning pale under the blazing sun on vast tracts of land in all the 12 upazilas of the two districts. The water-starved land have developed cracks at many places.

After the squall lashed the Capital on Wednesday, Met officials attributed the sudden change in weather to a low pressure disturbances in the neighbouring region.

Strong winds, coupled with rain, played havoc with the green cover of the city. Several trees fell, all across the Capital, leaving people to struggle with snapped power lines and blocked traffic Wednesday's storm ripped through Delhi, playing havoc with the green cover in various parts of the city. Heavy winds followed by rain uprooted trees and left people struggling through heavy branches blocking the roads. In certain areas, trees had collapsed on electric lines and transformers, disrupting power supply.

Of the 5000 applications received by the Agriculture Department from farmers claiming loss of crops due to unseasonal rains in March, 2200 applications have been verified and loss has been estimated to be Rs 2.75 crore. The verification of the remaining applications is scheduled to be completed by May, told S S P Tendulkar, Director of Agriculture to Herald. Unseasonal rains in the months of February and March greatly affected horticulture crops and to some extent paddy.

until now, it was believed that methane, from cattle dung and paddy cultivation, was the second biggest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. A recent review says soot is the second