Hyderabad: With the temperature rising two to five degrees above normal at many places including Hyderabad, Telangana was experiencing an early heatwave, unprecedented for the month of April.
With maximum temperature touching a high of 43 degrees Celsius in Hyderabad on Monday, it was very close to breaking almost four and a half decade long record. The city had recorded the highest temperature of 43.3 degrees on April 30, 1973.
The same situation continued on Tuesday when most parts of the city wore a deserted look, bazaars and roads were empty with citizens preferring to remain indoors to avoid the hot winds.
Situation in interior parts of Telangana was worse as the temperature reached a high of 44.5 degrees in Mahbubnagar and 44 degrees Celsius at many places including Adilabad.
Heatwave, which normally hits the state in May at the peak of the summer, has already started claiming lives in the state. According to the disaster management department officials, seven people have died in the state due to sunstroke so far. The deaths were reported from Karimnagar, Khammam, Komuram Bheem and Warangal districts.
The Indian Meteorological Department office in Hyderabad and Cyclone Warning Centre at Visakhapatnam has warned that the heatwave conditions will continue at least for the next 48 hours. “The maximum temperatures are likely to be above normal by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius. The mercury is expected to be above 42 degrees at isolated places in North Telangana and above 40 degrees Celsius at many places in the state today and tomorrow”, a bulletin issued by the IMD said.
The intensity of the heat was likely to come down after two days, it said.
In the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh people were reeling from the scorching summer heat. Except in north coastal Andhra, temperature was above normal by two to five degrees.