Heat Wave Claims 47 Lives in Odisha

30 May, Bhubaneswar

The death toll in this seasons heat wave rose to 21 today as the blistering heat wave conditions continued to sweep Western Odisha with mercury rising over 44 degree Celsius at many places paralyzing normal life.

Special Relief Commission(SRC) office here today said it had so far received reports of 115 sun stroke deaths across the state out of which 47 were inquired and 21 of them were found to have died due to heat wave. The inquiry about the rest 68 deaths is still awaited from various districts.

The maximum allegation of deaths due to sun stroke had come from Ganjam district(24) followed by Jajppur(17) and Khurda(14).

Met sources said Western Odisha was reeling under an intense heat wave condition with mercury rising over 44 degree Celsius at several places.Titlagarh with 45.5 degree Celsius is the hottest place in the state today followed by Sambalpur(44.6),Bhawanipatna(44.5),Sambalpur(44.4) , Bolangir (44) and Jharsuguda ( 43).

The people of Coastal Odisha got some respite from the scorching sun as the day temperature which had been hovering over 40 degree Celsius had come down marginally bringing some relief to the fortnight long heat wave condition.

Met sources said the heat wave condition will continue to prevail for the next 48 hours in the entire Western Odisha and also some parts of South, North and Coastal Odisha.