Cold wave continues in Odisha

A cold wave continued to sweep several parts of Odisha with Phulbani, the administrative headquarters of Kandhamal district, Tuesday recording 3.4 degrees Celsius, the lowest temperature in the state, an official said.

Many of the residents in this town, about 210 kms from state capital Bhubaneswar, were forced to stay indoors throughout the day due to the extreme weather conditions.

Phulbani earlier recorded a minimum temperature of 1.6 degree Celsius Saturday, the lowest reading of this season in the state.

Many other places also recorded low temperatures, including Koraput (7.0) Bhabanipatna (7.2), Jharsuguda (8.9), and Hirakud (9.1), an official of the Bhubaneswar meteorological centre told IANS. Cold wave conditions are likely to prevail in many parts of the state for some more days, he said

The state capital and a few other coastal regions, however, remained relatively warmer. While Bhubaneswar recorded a minimum temperature of 11.2 degrees Celsius, its adjoining city Cuttack recorded 11.5 degrees Celsius.

An official from the office of the state's special relief commissioner said there has been no report of any death so far due to the cold wave.