Day temperatures soared in western Odisha on Monday after two days of relatively lower temperatures caused by the hailstorm induced-rain in the State even as 14 people have lost their lives due to sunstroke so far.
The number of alleged sunstroke death cases has increased to 140 of which 14, up by one since Saturday, have been confirmed as heat-related ones, a report from the office of the Special Relief Commissioner said.
Coal town of Talcher was the hottest place in the State at 44.6 degrees Celsius, while in Jharsuguda it was 44.3 C, 44.2 in Bhawanipatna and Bolangir and 44.1 in Angul, the Met officer here said.
Five places recorded temperature at or above 43 degrees C.
They were Baripada at 43.6, Titlagarh at 43.5, Keonjhar at 43.3, Hirakud at 43.1 and Sambalpur 43 degrees C.
The maximum temperature in Bhubaneswar was 40.1 against 44 degrees Celsius on Sunday, it said adding that relative humidity at 86 per cent caused a lot of sweating.
Some relief in Bengal
Meanwhile, bringing much-needed relief to the people of West Bengal, the heat wave conditions subsided on Monday after several days of above 40 degrees Celsius temperature.
The MeT department has forecast thunder squall during the next few days.
Bankura, which had sizzled at 45.1 degrees C on Sunday, was cooler by over six degrees on Monday with the day’s highest temperature recorded at 38.9 degrees C.
In Kolkata, the temperature was down at 38.9 degrees C, but the discomfort level in the metropolis was high due to excessive humidity.
The mercury was down by a few notches in other places of the Gangetic West Bengal also with Asansol, Burdwan and Sriniketan recording 35.9 degrees, 37.0 degrees and 35.8 degrees respectively.
Thunder squall with wind speed between 50 to 60 km per hour with hail was likely to occur at isolated places over Bankura, Birbhum, Bardhaman, Murshidabad, Nadia, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas districts, the MeT department said. - PTI
