Heat wave death toll goes up in Odisha

The official heat wave death figure in Odisha has gone up from 2 to 10 during the last 48 hours. The toll is expected to go up further as investigations are still going on over 16 more cases of alleged heat wave deaths.

The district collectors have been asked to furnish the investigation reports as early as possible. According to a statement released by the office of the state’s Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), 42 cases of suspected heat wave deaths had been reported from different districts by Saturday evening, of which the final investigation reports had come on 26 deaths. Of these 26 cases, 10 were confirmed as deaths due to sunstroke. The remaining 16 deaths occurred because of other reasons.

Out of the 10 confirmed heat wave deaths, 3 have been reported from north Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district followed by one each in Bhadrak and Balasore (north Odisha), Khurda, Kendrapara, Jajpur and Cuttack (coastal Odisha) and Bolangir (western Odisha).

What is worrying the authorities is the fact that the peak summer condition will continue . In fact, the local met office has predicted that the current hot weather conditions would continue at least for the next three days, though day temperatures may fall. However, the temperature is expected to rise again from May 9. Peak summer will continue in Odisha till the first week of June.

On Friday, as many as 11 places in the state, including capital city Bhubaneswar had recorded maximum day time temperature of more than 40 degree Celsius. The highest 45 degree was registered in the coal township of Talcher in Angul district.