Heat Wave Continues in Odisha, Govt Advances Summer Vacation

Severe heat wave in Odisha forces the state government to start summer vacations in April instead of May.

A child cools off in the sweltering heat. (Photo: Reuters)

The severe heatwave continued to prevail in Odisha on Monday with Titlagarh recording the maximum temperature of 46 degree Celsius, forcing the state government to advance summer vacation in schools.

Titlagarh had recorded 48.5 degree Celsius on Tuesday. The western Odisha town still remained the hottest place in the country, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Though there has been a fall in maximum temperature by one or two degrees in almost all places, still the condition is difficult for people. Keeping in view the IMD prediction that the situation will continue at least for one week, the state government has advanced the summer vacation for schools.

PK Mohapatra, Special Relief Commissioner

The summer vacation in schools would now begin from 26 April instead of 1 May.

Titlagarh was followed by other western Odisha towns, which bore the brunt of the intense heatwave as many places recorded high temperature of above 44 degree Celsius.

While Bhawanipatna recorded 45.7 degree Celsius, Bolangir was at 45.5 degree Celsius, Sambalpur 44.6 degree Celsius, Talcher (44.5), Hirakud (43.7), Sundergarh (43.5) and Malkangiri (43.4). Bhubaneswar had a maximum of 39.2 degree Celsius on Monday with relative humidity at 91 percent.

Stating that there was no large change in temperatures across Odisha, the IMD in a bulletin said they were appreciably above normal over interior Odisha, above normal over north coastal Odisha and normal over south coastal Odisha.

Heatwave condition is likely to prevail at a few places over interior Odisha with severe heatwave conditions at one or two places over south interior Odisha during the next 24 hours.

The IMD bulletin

Quoting the latest doppler weather radar and satellite imageries, the IMD said the module indicate the occurrence of thunder squall accompanied with hail and gusty surface winds reaching 60 km/h speeds at one or two places over the districts of Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Jajpur on Monday.

Meanwhile, a report from the SRC’s office said though the number of alleged sunstroke death cases increased to 99, the confirmed cases continued to remain at four.

While three persons died of heat-related incidents in Angul district, one person succumbed to sunstroke in Bolangir district, the SRC officials said.

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