25.5.15

Heatwave scorches India

The scorching summer continued to claim lives in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, with as many as 165 more deaths reported on Sunday , even as the soaring mercury broke records in other parts of India.
The sunstroke toll in the two states has now touched 500. And, there is likely to be no early respite from the killer heat as India Meteorological Department extended the severe heat wave warning in AP and Telangana by three more days.
The region's highest temperature of 47 degrees Celsius was recorded at Machilipatnam and Tuni in AP.
Elsewhere, blazing temperatures across cities made Sunday the hottest day in UP in five years.In Odisha, nine cities recorded temperatures above 45 degrees. It was 40 degrees at Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh's highest spot at 1,100 metres above sea level, a staggering 10 degrees above normal. As the toll continued to mount by the day , the AP and Telangana governments issued a public warning directing people to drink lots of fluids and approach the nearest hospital in case of any symptoms of sunstroke. They have also issued instructions to administration in the districts to keep oral rehydration solutions and intra-venous fluids at all railway and bus stations to provide emergency medicare to passengers.
Ironically, the disaster management departments in both the states remained silent on the actual sunstroke toll.Officials said they are busy collecting data from the field level staff. Vernacular media, with a large network of stringers in villages, have put Sunday's toll in the two states at over 270.
Reports of vehicles catching fire due to intense heat have come in from a few places in Telangana. As UP recorded its hottest day in five years, capital Lucknow saw a maximum temperature of 44.7 degrees C, which is the highest ever recorded there in the month of May .
Allahabad continued to be the hottest place in the state with a maximum temperature of 47.7 degrees C, up from 47 on Saturday . Banda recorded 46.6 degrees and Sultanpur 46, while it was 45.5 degrees in Varanasi, Agra and Bareilly . The state Met department warned that heat wave conditions would continue on Monday and Tuesday .
In MP , Khajuraho sizzled as the day temperature touched 47 degrees C. For the past week, mercury has been hovering around 45 degrees here.

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