Scorching weather continues; Titlagarh hottest

Several parts of the country continued to reel under scorching heat today as mercury hit a high of 46.3 degrees Celsius in Odisha's Titlagarh while pre-monsoon showers accompanied by squall and hailstorm created havoc in Mizoram destroying hundreds of houses.
Delhiites experienced another hot day with the maximum temperature, recorded at 4.30 pm, settling at 40.1 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal, and the minimum registering 29.8 degrees Celsius, eight notches above average.
The maximum temperature had yesterday shot up to 42 (rpt 42) degrees Celsius, making it the hottest April day in the national capital in the past six years, a MeT official said.

The heat wave sweeping across Odisha intensified in ten western districts as Titlagarh turned out to be the hottest place in the state recording 46.3 degrees Celsius while temperature fell marginally in the coastal belt.
The entire western region of the state continued to boil under blistering temperature, while the heat wave also prevailed in parts of interior Odisha.
While Titlagarh recorded the highest temperature of 46.3 degrees celsius, it was followed by 45.8 in Sonepur, 45.5 in Jharsuguda and Taleher and 45 degrees Celsius in Sundargarh, IMD said in a bulletin.

The maximum temperature touched 44.6 degrees Celsius in Hirakud, while it stood at 44.5 in both Bhawanipatna and Angul and 44 degrees Celsius in Bolangir, it said.

The state capital of Bhubaneswar recorded a maximum temperature of 41.2 degrees Celsius as against 39.7 yesterday, the MeT office said.
Meanwhile, 38 persons are suspected to have died of sunstroke even as the state government claimed that no one had died due to heat related incidents.
Hundreds of houses and 20 government buildings have been destroyed in Mizoram as pre-monsoon rains, accompanied by squall and hailstorm created havoc across the state for past several days, state disaster management officials today said.
The officials said that though there have been no loss of lives, three people have been injured while their houses were destroyed by the squall which hit the state since April 7.

At least 350 private houses and some government buildings were destroyed in Mizoram-Bangladesh-Tripura border Mamit district alone during the past 48 hours in the squall and hailstorm, a senior district official said.
There was no respite from the scorching heat in Uttar
Pradesh with mercury hitting 45.4 degrees Celsius in Banda, the hottest in the state.
The weather remained generally dry over the state, the MET office said.
The maximum temperature rose in Meerut division and changed little in the remaining divisions of the state, it said, adding that the highest maximum temperature in the state was recorded at Banda at 45.4 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, with temperature soaring, Lucknow district authorities have ordered change in school timings from tomorrow.
"All classes from nursery to class 6 will operate from 7 am to 11 am and for the rest, it will be from 7 am to 12 noon," District Magistrate Raj Shekhar said.
Hot weather conditions prevailed in Punjab and Haryana with mercury rising by several notches above normal in several places in both the states.
Ambala and Hisar in Haryana registered maximum temperatures at 41.5 degrees Celsius, while Ludhiana and Patiala in Punjab braved the heat at 41.4 and 41.5 degrees Celsius respectively,
Chandigarh, the joint capital of the two states, saw a maximum of 40.6 degrees Celsius, seven notches above normal.

Cloudy weather brought respite from the heat in West Bengal where 70 per cent electorate cast their vote in 56 Assembly constituencies in the second phase of polling.