Bhubaneswar: With most parts of Odisha reeling under an intense heat wave, the number of deaths due to heat stroke rose to 24 on Tuesday with reports of the death of seven more persons, sources in the office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) said.
Notably, SRC Pradipta Kumar Mahapatra had told the media on Monday that his office had received reports on the death of 17 persons of which four were found not to be due to heat stroke. He had also said that the investigation is on to ascertain the cause of death of the remaining 13 persons.
Talking about the steps the state government has taken to provide drinking water in the water scarce areas, he said the leave of the engineers and employees of the Rural Water Supply department has been cancelled as they will be engaged in the supply of drinking water.
Meanwhile, a Met release this evening said while Titlagarh was the hottest place in the state with 44.5 degrees Celsius, mercury went up to 40 degrees and above in 18 places of the state of which 16 recorded above 42 degrees.
Temperature in these 18 places are: Balasore (41.2), Chandbali (43.7), Cuttack (42.6), Bhubaneswar (42.9), Angul (43.3), Baripada (42.6), Jharsuguda (43), Keonjhar (41.5), Sambalpur (42.7), Sundergarh (44), Hirakud (43.1), Talcher (43.8), Bhawanipatna (43.2), Balangir (43.5), Phulbani (40), Malkangiri (42.8), Sonepur (44.1) and Dhenkanal (42.8).
Talking to OTV, Dr Sarat Chandra Sahu, Director, Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, said there will be hardly any change in the weather conditions in western and coastal Odisha due to blowing of hot wind from Central India.
He said the heat wave condition will continue till next week.