Heat claims over 1,000 nationwide
Hyderabad: The death toll due to the severe heatwave sweeping the nation crossed the 1,000 mark on Tuesday, with the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana bearing the brunt. The toll in Andhra Pradesh rose to 852. In Telangana, the heat claimed more than 50 lives in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 266.
Hyderabad, May 26: The death toll due to the severe heatwave sweeping the nation crossed the 1,000 mark on Tuesday, with the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana bearing the brunt.
The toll in Andhra Pradesh rose to 852, with the scorching weather claiming 202 lives in Prakasam district alone, officials said on Tuesday.
In Telangana, the heat claimed more than 50 lives in the last 24 hours, taking the toll over a month to 266 in the state. At least 51 persons have died due to heat- related problems in the state in the last 24 hours, officials said.
In Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district, 130 person have succumbed to the heatwave so far, followed by Visakhapatnam ( 112), Vizianagaram ( 78) and Nellore ( 74), according to the figures available this evening, special commissioner for disaster management Tulsi Rani said.
The toll in other districts so far is: East Godavari ( 90), West Godavari ( 10), Krishna ( 49), Chittore ( 29), Kadapa ( 22), Kurnool ( 17), Anantapur ( 14) and Srikaukulam ( 25).
According to the MeT department, severe heat wave conditions prevailed on Tuesday over many parts, including Vi z i a n a g a r a m , Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasham and Nellore districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh.
The heat wave conditions would prevail in some parts of Kurnool and Chittoor districts of Rayalaseema, it predicted. Andhra Pradesh deputy CM and home minister N. Chinna Rajappa said the state government will pay an ex- gratia of ` 1 lakh to the kin of the victims.
The government had issued an alert to doctors to be ready to provide medical assistance to the heat wave- affected people, he said.
Telangana’s Nalgonda district recorded the highest number of deaths at 73 followed by Khammam ( 60), Mahabubnagar ( 32), Medak ( 26), Karimnagar and Adilabad district ( 22) each, Warangal ( 9), Nizamabad ( 8), Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy ( 7) each, a senior official of state disaster management department said.
Besides Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, sweltering conditions persisted in Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal with temperature hovering around 45° C in most places in these states.
Delhi recorded 45° C, 0.5° C less than Monday’s which was the hottest day. There could be some respite from the sweltering heat as some parts of north and south India are expected to experience thunder storm in next two days, thus bringing down the temperature by a few notches.