Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, April 10: The prevailing heatwave condition in the state claimed three lives with the mercury crossing the 42°C mark in more than six towns Sunday .
Special Relief Commissioner’s Office here informed mediapersons it has received complaints of 16 deaths due to sunstroke so far including three incidents of Sunday.
Two of the cases were reported from Angul and Jajpur. A 42-year-old man, Nirakar Sahu reportedly died of sunstroke Sunday. Local reports said Sahu was returning from his farmland after the day’s work when he collapsed. He was rushed to hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Angul recorded a maximum temperature of 42.7°C in the day.
Another sunstroke death has been reported from Jajpur where the deceased was identified as Jhagi Mallick (60) of Balabhadrapur under Binjharpur block. Sources said Majhi had gone to pluck green gram and fell unconscious in his farm. He was taken to a hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.
While the state experienced an unbearable heatwave, Bhubaneswar recorded a temperature of 44.1°C, the highest since 2010. Life became miserable as the humidity level also went up to 84 per cent in Bhubaneswar pushing the citizens to stay indoors till evening.
The state capital had recorded the highest temperature at 43.6 degrees April 9, 2010, Met officials said.
The Capital city was followed by coal town of Talcher where mercury touched 43.6°C and the industrial town of Jharsuguda 43.1°C. The towns and cities which recorded temperature above 42°C were: Angul and Hirakud (42.7°C each), Titilagarh (42.5°C), Chandbali (42.3°C), Baripada and Sambalpur (42.2°C), Sundargarh and Malkangiri (42°C).
’’The amount of rainfall and the soil condition determine the rise and fall in temperature of a place. If the soil is covered with grass, evaporation occurs as the heat takes away the moisture from the soil. As a result, the atmosphere becomes cool. But as there is no substantial rainfall in Orissa since October last year, the soil has become dry,” said India Meteorological Department (IMD) director S C Sahu.
Stating that temperature in Orissa has gone up by 4 to 5°C this time, IMD warned that the trend of rising day temperature would continue for a week or more in interior districts of the state.
Meanwhile, a bulletin issued by the IMD said the heat wave condition prevailed over some parts of coastal Orissa.
