Heatwave: No respite; highest max in Odisha at 46.3 deg C

New Delhi, Apr 26: Heatwave continued to sweep several parts of the country with Sonepur in Odisha recording the highest maximum temperature of 46.3 degrees Celsius, while one person died of sun stroke in Kerala where the mercury levels have gone up substantially.

Delhi woke up to a sunny morning with traces of haze and a minimum temperature of 22.2 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season's average. The maximum temperature settled at 40.7 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal.

In Odisha, after Sonepur, Bolangir recorded 42.7 degrees Celsius and Titlagarh a high of 42 degrees Celsius. The number of suspected sunstroke deaths increased to 112, though the state government put the toll at eight due to heat-related incidents, a report from Special Relief Commissioner's office said.

In Jharkhand, steel cities Jamshedpur and Bokaro registered 44.1 and 43.5 degrees Celsius respectively while Ranchi recorded 42 degrees Celsius. In Andhra Pradesh, there was some respite from the heatwave for the locals as rainfall occurred at isolated places over coastal areas of the state. While 3 cm rainfall was recorded at Araku Valley in Visakhapatnam district, dry weather prevailed over Rayalaseema, Y K Reddy, Director in-charge, IMD said in a statement.

Jangamaheswarapuram, Anantapur, Kurnool and Nandyal recorded the maximum temperature of 44 degrees Celsius.

Elsewhere, day temperatures were appreciably above normal in some parts of Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland-Manipur-Mizoram-Tripura, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, east Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Maharashtra, Telangana, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu, interior Karnataka and in remaining parts of Gangetic West Bengal. Kerala continued to sizzle with the temperature touching 41.6 degrees Celsius at Malampuzha in Palakkad district, the highest in the state for the second day.

Kannur recorded 39.2 degrees Celsius and Kozhikode 38.2 degrees Celsius, IMD Regional centre sources here said. Some places in the state received summer showers giving some respite for the people. 70 cases of sun burn and one death has so far been reported from the district, Palakkad District Medical Officer, Dr Reetha, told PTI.

In Telangana, the highest maximum temperature of 44 degrees Celsius was recorded at Adilabad, Medak and Nalgonda. In Bihar, the heat wave will continue for the next couple of days. Patna and Bhagalpur were the hottest places in the state with the mercury recording a high of 43.6 degrees Celsius, the MeT office said.

PTI