No respite from heat in Odisha

There was little or no relief from searing heatwave condition today in Odisha where four persons have died due to heatstroke so far.
Western town of Titlagarh recorded season's highest at 47.6 degrees Celsius and six districts in the region recorded maximums above 46 degrees Celsius.
Mercury in the state capital of Bhubaneswar settled at 39.8 degrees as against 45.4 degrees Celsius yesterday.
Temperatures in most of the coastal districts was measured below 40 degrees Celsius but high humidity troubled residents. The relative humidity in Bhubaneswar was 91 per cent, Met office said.
The western Odisha towns which recorded temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius were: Hirakud (46.6), Sambalpur (46.4), Jharsuguda and Balangir (46 each), Kalahandi district headquarters of Bhawanipatna (45.7) and Sonepur (45.2). Sundergarh recorded 44.5 degrees C while the coal town of Talcher had a high of 42.2 degrees.

Meanwhile, the state's Special Relief Commissioner's (SRC) office said there was no change in the sunstroke casualty figure even as the Revenue department received reports of 67 death cases allegedly due to heat-related incidents.

"The district collectors have so far probed 11 cases of which 4 deaths occurred due to sun stroke while 7 others are due to some other reasons. The collectors are probing 56 other cases," SRC G V V Sarma said.
The Met office predicted heatwave conditions will prevail over interior parts of the state while thundershowers and hailstorm may occur at some places in the coastal region.

Temperature in some parts of the coastal region came down two to three degrees today as there are possibilities of rain or thundershowers in these areas due to formation of a weak trough line stretching from north coastal Andhra Pradesh up to Odisha and Chhattisgarh, Director of Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, Sarat Chandra Sahu said.
Besides, there is also a possibility of Nor'wester at one or two places in the coastal districts, he said adding that the heatwave-like conditions would prevail in the state up to May 31.