Heat wave persists in Orissa, death toll mounts

Kalingatimes, 21st May, 2008

Normal life continued to be badly affected in most parts of Orissa on Monday due to the prevailing heat wave that has claimed at least 42 human lives so far. Many places in interior region of Orissa have been reeling under the heat wave condition for more than three weeks with no sign of rain. The areas that witnessed maximum day temperature beyond 40 degrees Celsius on Monday include Talcher, Angul, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bolangir, Bhawanipatna, Malkangiri and Phulbani.
The heat wave condition was likely to prevail over some parts of the State during the next 24 hours, officials in the Revenue and Disaster Management Department of the State government said. The officials said that as many as 147 deaths allegedly due to sunstroke had been reported from different areas of the State by Monday.
While 42 deaths were found to have taken place due to sunstroke, as many as 82 were found to have occurred due to `other reasons'. The official death toll was likely to rise in the next few days as verification reports were awaited in the remaining 23 cases.
Meanwhile, people in some areas in the coastal belt of the State had got reprieve from the gruelling heat wave due to occurrence of thunderstorm and rain. Although temperature had shown a decline in the coastal district, high humidity condition was adding to the people's woes.