There is no respite from the severe heat wave for some more days as hot winds continued in the city on Friday also. The heat which was felt till late in the night was experienced right from early hours with the sun coming out in full fury much before 8 a.m. The temperatures continued to hover around 40 degrees Celsius in most of the places in Andhra Pradesh on Friday also.
Waltair recorded 35.6 degrees and Visakhapatnam Airport recorded 42 degree C on Friday, according to a spokesman of the Cyclone Warning Centre (CWC) here.
School children bore the brunt with most of the schools re-opening after the long summer vacation. Many of the private schools have extended the holidays till June 19 and also extended the admission. District Education Officer M.V. Krishna Reddy said that the schools were asked to close for the day on Friday in view of the ‘extended summer’. He, however, said that a decision on further extension of the holidays would be taken only after reviewing the situation.
Daily wage earners, petty vendors, college students and office-goers had a tough time. Children and senior citizens had a tough time due to the oppressive heat and the unscheduled power-cut. There were reports of 10 deaths due to the heat wave in the district. The Collector was reported to have sent a preliminary report to the Government on the deaths.
“The heat wave conditions being experienced due to the north westerly winds are likely to continue for the next couple of days. The monsoon winds have to been diverted to the west coast in view of the cyclone in the Arabian Sea. The humidity will continue till the onset of monsoon,” CWC Director K. Ramachandra Rao said.
The south west monsoon, which has been delayed by a week, arrived in Chennai on June 11. Conditions are favourable for further advancement of the monsoon and it is expected to cover coastal Andhra in the next three to four days.
