Friday, May 30, 2008

Orissa heat wave death toll crosses 50

Kalinga Times, 30th May, 2008

As heat wave conditions continued to prevail in several regions of Orissa, the number of sunstroke deaths in the State crossed 50 on Thursday. “As many as 51 deaths due to sunstroke have been confirmed so far,” said an official manning the State level control room of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department here. A total of 165 deaths, allegedly due to sunstroke, had been reported from different areas of the State this season. Verification carried out by the district administrations concerned, however, had found that 90 of these deaths took place due to `other reasons'. Inquiry reports in respect of the remaining 24 alleged heat wave deaths were awaited, the official added.
Of the 51 sunstroke deaths confirmed, seven had been reported from Dhenkanal district and six each from Angul and Jagatsinghpur. Besides, five deaths were confirmed in Khurda; four each in Ganjam, Nayagarh, Sambalpur and Sundargarh; three in Jajpur; two each in Balasore, Puri and Sonepur; and one each in Kendrapara and Mayurbhanj. The heat wave condition, however, had started subsiding in some coastal districts due to rain and thundershowers during the past few days.
However, the maximum day temperature continues to remain over 40 degrees Celsius in many interiors districts till date. The places that recorded more than 40 degrees Celsius on Wednesday include Bolangir, Bhawanipatna, Sambalpur, Sundargarh and Angul. As regards weather forecast, there was possibility of thunder-squall and rain in some areas during the next 24 hours.

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