Bhubaneswar: Temperature went up alarmingly in the coastal belt of Odisha today with the capital city recording 45.3 degrees Celsius on Thursday. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has sounded a severe heat wave warning in the coastal districts.
As per a Met release here this evening, mercury shot up to 40 degree Celsius above in 18 places in the state with Sonepur remaining the hottest place with 45.4 degrees.
Other places which recorded 40 degrees and above are Balasore (41.2), Chandbali (44.2), Cuttack (43), Bhubaneswar (45.3), Angul (43.7), Jharsuguda (40.4), Keonjhar (40.4), Sambalpur (40.7), Sundergarh (42) Hirakud (41), Talcher (45.4), Bhawanipatna (43.2), Balangir (43), Phulbani (41), Titlagarh (42.5), Malkangiri (43.6) and Dhenkanal (43.2).
In the capital city, temperature went up sharply after 10 AM and reached 45.3 degrees. By noon, the normally busy thoroughfares in the city wore a deserted look while street vendors downed their shutters to escape from intense heat and humidity.
Talking to OTV, Director of Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar Dr Sarat Chandra Sahu said temperature in interior Odisha would come down by 3-4 degrees Celsius due to overcast conditions and light rainfall in some parts of the region since last two days.
Referring to the rise in temperature in some parts of coastal Odisha since Wednesday, he said the wind flow which was from the south-west direction in the morning suddenly changed its course to the north-west direction by 10.30 AM resulting in the steep rise in the temperature.
“If the wind flow continues to be from the west and north-west direction, there would be a further rise in temperature in Bhubaneswar and other coastal pockets in Bhadrak, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, some parts of Puri district and the adjoining districts of Angul and Dhenkanal. Going by the model indicator, the Met department has sounded a severe heat wave warning in these districts for the next 3-4 days up to May 2,” Sahu informed.
He further said though there is indication of rainfall in these districts, the amount of rainfall would be minimal as the humidity level in the upper air is less than 40 percent.
Meanwhile, reports on death of 119 persons due sun-stroke have been received from different sources in the state of which death in nine cases has been confirmed to be due to sunstroke, a release by the office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) said.