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03/29/2024 09:10:39 am

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India Heat Wave Kills More Than 1,000; Hottest Temperatures Reach 49 Degrees Celsius

Local residents crowd to collect free drinking water supplied by a municipal corporation water tanker.

(Photo : Reuters) Local residents crowd to collect free drinking water supplied by a municipal corporation water tanker.

The heatwave in parts of southern and northern India has reportedly claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people in just weeks, according to officials Tuesday. Unfortunately, it is expected to endure for a couple more days in the remaining week.

In New Delhi, the country's northern capital, at least 49 C was recorded. Because of dehydration and heat stroke in three states, red alerts were issued by India's Met Office.

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In the city of Allahabad, temperatures reached 47.7 C on Sunday.

Deaths mostly occurred in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states in the southern area of India, according to NPR.

Andhra Pradesh received the brunt of the severely hot conditions, with 852 deaths in weeks, according to the Press Trust of India. In the neighboring Telangana state, the heatwave claimed more than 200 lives.

"We are advising people not to go to work between 10 am to 4 p.m.," said an Andhra Pradesh's Disaster Management Department senior official. "We have also opened centres in different places, specially in urban areas for the distribution of water and buttermilk."

Andhra Pradesh's deputy chief minister N. Chinna Rajappa also announced that the heatwave victims' families will receive the equivalent of US$1,600.

Meanwhile, doctors in the state had to put off their leaves because of the surge of heat stroke admissions, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It is predicted that the extreme temperatures are to continue until the following week, reported Sky News.

One of the hottest months in the country is May, and according to the India Meteorological Department, the current heatwave is one of the severest temperatures recorded in the last 10 years.

"The intensity of the heat wave will start decreasing from May 28 onward," said Director B. P. Yadav of the India Meteorological Department.

Monsoon rains in the southern state of Kerala during the last week of May or the first week of June are expected to bring ease to the intense temperature situations. However, it could reportedly take weeks before the respite would reach the country's northern half.

Monsoon season in India takes place May to September.

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