Blistering heat continues in W Odisha

Blistering heat continued to sweep parts of the State with more than seven places recording temperatures above 40 degree Celsius on Monday.

Titilagarh in Balangir district continued to top the charts recording a maximum temperature of 42 .5 degree Celsius followed by Sonepur with 42 degree. Similarly, Balangir and Sundargarh recorded a maximum of 41.5 degree, followed by Malkangiri and Jharsuguda with 41.2 degree, Sambalpur 41 degree and Hirakhud at 40.9 degree.

Bhubaneswar had a maximum temperature of 39 degree while in neighbouring Cuttack it was 37 degree, said the Regional Office of Indian Metrological Department (IMD) here.

The State capital would have cloudy sky with a maximum temperature of 38 degree on Tuesday, the IMD said. In fact, Bhubaneswar experienced a norwester in Monday evening that made the city little cooler.

The weather office warned fishermen to be careful while venturing into sea as strong and gusty winds with speeds of 35 to 45 km per hour is likely to prevail along and off the Odisha coast on Tuesday.

However, while the heat wave wreaked havoc in western Odisha, Keonjhar witnessed an unusually heavy hailstorm, which turned its entire landscape snow white.

From roads to houses to agricultural fields, the entire area was covered with hailstones. Though rain and hailstorms provided much-needed relief from the scorching heat, it also damaged the crops of farmers in several hectares of land.

It also left behind a trail of destruction with several uprooting roofs of several thatched houses.