Heatwave sweeps India, sunstroke claims 178 lives in T’gana

Temperatures soared in north, central and peninsular regions of the country on Monday, with Delhi witnessing the season’s hottest day and Telangana and Odisha together recorded 36 more sunstroke deaths. Besides, over 1,000 houses were damaged by thunderstorm in Nagaland.

The plains in the north simmered under the blazing sun with Hisar in Haryana being the hottest in the country at 45.5 degrees Celsius. It was closely followed by Banda in Uttar Pradesh at 45.2 degrees. Heatwave conditions, however, subsided in Bihar, which had a cloudy day. Gangetic West Bengal, however, is likely to be hit by thunderstorms in the next few days.

The national Capital sizzled at 44 degrees Celsius, the hottest day of the season so far. In Telangana, the sunstroke toll since the beginning of summer climbed to 178 from 143 reported on Friday as heatwave conditions prevailed in many parts of Khammam and Karimnagar districts of the state.

“These deaths were confirmed by a three-member committee. Nalgonda district tops the chart with 53 deaths, followed by Mahbubnagar with 33,” an official in the disaster management’s control room said. The maximum temperature of 45 degree Celsius was recorded at Ramagundam. Rain occurred at isolated places over the state and Kondurg in Mahabubnagar district received 3cm of rainfall, IMD said.

Odisha reported another heatwave-related death, taking the toll to 14. The state with coal town of Talcher recording the maximum of 44.6 degrees.