Hyderabad: Just over a decade after hot weather killed thousands in the region, another deadly heatwave is sweeping across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana claiming hundreds lives so far and breaking records.
While officials in both states have put the toll at more than 460, local media reported the deaths as surpassing 700.
B.R. Meena, disaster management commissioner for Telangana, confirmed the deaths of 186 people since April 15 while his AP counterpart Tulasi Rani put the toll at 246 since May 18.
Thirteen more deaths were reported from Telangana districts on Monday and 15 from different parts of AP.
A killer heatwave in the state claimed the lives of more than 1,300 people in 2003, with rural areas bearing the brunt of that crisis.
With a merciless sun scorching cities, towns and villages right from the early hours of the morning, and hot winds making it even more unbearable, people were forced to stay indoors for most of the day, leaving the roads and bazaars deserted for more than a week.
With hot winds continuing to blow from north and northwestern India, and no sign of any low pressure in the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean or Arabian Sea so far, no immediate respite was in sight for the people.
While temperatures slight dropped on Monday in parts of Telangana, they remained three to eight degrees above normal at many places in coastal Andhra Pradesh.
“The heatwave conditions will continue for at least another 24 hours”, said Y.K. Reddy, director-in-charge, Hyderabad Met Centre.
Khammam, Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Warangal were the worst hit in Telangana, while Prakasham, Guntur, Krishna and East Godavari bore the brunt of the week long heatwave in Andhra Pradesh.
Khammam, which broke almost seven-decades-old record of temperature by recording 48 degrees Celsius on Saturday, had cooled down to some extent as the mercury touched 42 degrees Celsius on Monday, Hyderabad Met office said.
In Hyderabad, residents heaved a collective sigh of relief as the temperature came down to 38 degrees from a high of 44 degrees in the middle of last week.
In Telangana, Adilabad had the second highest temperature of 41 degrees followed by 40 degrees Celsius in Nalgonda.
However the situation remained grim in Andhra Pradesh where the highest temperature of 47 degrees was recorded in the port cities of Kakinada, Machlipatanam and another town Tuni.
Vijayawada recorded a high of 46 degrees.
Though temperatures at the peak of summer season in the month of May touch a high of 45 to 46 degrees at many places every year, such severe and intense heatwave condition claiming such a large number of lives is not a regular phenomenon in the state.
“We have issued a detailed warning with a list of dos and don’ts. We have urged the people to stay indoors specially during the noon and afternoon hours when the heatwave is intense”, Commissioner Meena said.
A look at the profile of the victims of heatwaves shows that an overwhelming majority are elderly people in the age group of 60 to 70 and above.
“Most of these deaths are not a direct result of sun stroke but it’s the impact of the severity of heat on the aged and the ill people,” an official said.
The second category of the victims are the poor and under nourished people including the daily wage earners including construction workers and the agriculture labourers. For instance of the 10 people who died in Medak on Saturday six were elderly and four were young people who went outdoors for work.
In view of the severe heatwave the government has issued orders to change the schedule of work under the rural employment guarantee scheme banning work at and after noon hours.
What has baffled weather experts is that the heatwave this year has been so severe despite the fact that both the state were lashed by frequent rains till the last month.
“Normally such severity is seen only when there has been no rains or shower during the summer reducing the moisture in the air”, said B. Ramanna Murthy, an environmental expert.
Y.K. Reddy said the situation may ease only if the hot winds from North-North West stop or Monsoon moves inland which was expected only in the first week of June.
