Orissa reels under intense heat wave

Several parts of the country continued to reel under scorching heat on Sunday as mercury hit a high of 46.3 degrees Celsius in Orissa’s Titlagarh while pre-monsoon showers accompanied by squall and hailstorm created havoc in Mizoram destroying hundreds of houses.

Delhiites experienced another hot day with the maximum temperature, recorded at 4.30 pm, settling at 40.1 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal, and the minimum registering 29.8 degrees Celsius, eight notches above average.

The maximum temperature had on Saturday shot up to 44 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest April day in the national capital in the past six years, a MeT official said.

The heatwave sweeping across Orissa intensified in 10 western districts as Titlagarh turned out to be the hottest place in the state recording 46.3 degrees Celsius while temperature fell marginally in the coastal belt.

The entire western region of the state continued to boil under blistering temperature, while the heat wave also prevailed in parts of interior Orissa.

While Titlagarh recorded the highest temperature of 46.3 degrees Celsius, it was followed by 45.8 in Sonepur, 45.5 in Jharsuguda and Taleher and 45 degrees Celsius in Sundargarh, the IMD said in a bulletin.

The maximum temperature touched 44.6 degrees Celsius in Hirakud, while it stood at 44.5 in both Bhawanipatna and Angul and 44 degrees Celsius in Bolangir, it said.

The state capital of Bhubaneswar recorded a maximum temperature of 41.2 degrees Celsius as against 39.7 yesterday, the MeT office said.

Meanwhile, 38 persons are suspected to have died of sunstroke even as the state government claimed that no one had died due to heat related incidents.