India Heatwave Kills 178, Toll Expected to Rise
Wed May 15, 2:24 AM ET
HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - A heatwave has killed at least 178 people in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the toll is expected to rise, officials said on Wednesday.
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The temperature in the worst-hit district along the Bay of Bengal coast has hit a high of 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days compared with an average temperature of 40 to 45 Celsius.
"We are advising people to stay indoors between noon and 4 p.m.," D.C. Rosaiah, the state's relief commissioner, told Reuters.
"Those who venture out should cover their heads with white cloths and take water with them."
Th heatwave is the worst in four years and comes ahead of the annual monsoon rains.
Most of the victims are from the rural belt where farmers and street hawkers have suffered heatstroke and dehydration.
"The forecast is that heatwave conditions will prevail in the coastal districts in the next 24 hours and abate thereafter," C.V. V. Bhadram, director of the Indian Meteorological Centre in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh's state capital, said late on Tuesday.
The first monsoon rains normally fall in the southern coast of Kerala state in early June and then fan out over the subsequent three months. |
