Heat wave relents in coast; no respite in interior Odisha

Bhubaneswar: While the people of coastal Odisha had some relief from the scorching sun, there was no respite from the intense heat wave for the people in the interior region of the state on Monday.

As per a Met release this evening, Titlagarh remained the hottest place in the state for the third consecutive day with 46 degree Celsius while temperature went up to 40 degrees and above in 13 places: Angul (43.1), Baripada (42.4), Jharsuguda (43.6), Keonjhar (42.3), Sambalpur (44.6), Sundergarh (43.5) Hirakud (43.7), Talcher (44.5), Bhawanipatna (45.7), Balangir (45.5), Phulbani (41) Malkangiri (43.4) and Dhenkanal (40.3).

In the coastal districts, temperature came down by about 2 degrees. Temperature in the twin city of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, which was 40.8 and 41.8 degrees yesterday, dropped to 37.5 and 39.2 degrees respectively.

Meanwhile, hail storm lashed some parts of Nayagarh and Dhenkanal districts this afternoon under the influence of Kalabaisakhi. In Nayagarh district, five cows died while a person was injured after being struck by lightning at Jamusahi on the outskirts of Nayagarh town.

Meanwhile, reports of death of 99 persons due sun-stroke have been received from different sources in the state of which death in four cases has been confirmed to be due to sunstroke. In 35 cases, the death has occurred due to other reasons while the remaining 64 cases are under inquiry, a release by the office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) said.