BHUBANESWAR: The Western Odisha Industrial town
Jharsuguda on Tuesday recorded 44.4 degree Celsius, the highest temperature of the state. This was also the maximum temperature recorded so far this season. Most parts of Odisha reeled under searing temperature on Tuesday as more than 12 places recorded temperature above 40 degree Celsius.
The sudden aggravation of the maximum temperature has forced people to remain indoors and the roads wore a deserted look in Jharsuguda and other western Odisha towns.
“Rise in temperature is making our life very difficult. Whenever I have to travel for marketing, I have to cover my face completely with wet towel. The heat is so intense that it is unbearable from morning 10 am itself. I can't even sit in my shop without a cooler,” said
Sanjay Agarwal, shop owner at
Jhanda Chowk.
The heat was worst for auto-rickshaw pullers and roadside vendors as they could hardly find any customer during the day. “It was a very hot day and I could hardly find any passengers in the daytime.” said Laxman Patra an auto-rickshaw driver of Badmal.
The sales of various cold beverages like lemon water and lassi and watermelon and coconut water has gone up due to the severe heat wave conditions in last few days. To tackle sunstroke in the district, Jharsuguda District Headquarters Hospital has made arrangement for heatstroke and other heat-related ailments.
Jharsuguda Chief District Medical Officer M R Samantray said “A two-bed air-conditioned cabin has been opened at the district headquarter hospital to treat patients suffering from sunstroke and other heat-related ailments.”
Similarly mercury crossed 40degree Celsius in places like
Hirakud recorded 44.1 degree Celsius, 43.6 degree Celsius at Sambalpur, 43.5 degree Celsius at Bolangir, 43.1 degree Celsius at Talecher and 42 degree Celsius at Bhawanipatna.
However, the Met office said, the day temperature will fall from Wednesday. “There are chances of Norwester rain in several parts of South and North Odisha on Wednesday. From May 14 the maximum temperature across Odisa will drop and remain within 40 degree Celsius,” said director of IMD’s regional director Sarat Chandra Sahoo.
Thunder squall accompanied with hail and gusty surface wind speed reaching 50-60 kmph likely to occur at one or two places over coastal Odisha and the districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Gajapati, Rayagada, Kandhamal. The heatwave condition likely to prevail over interior Odisha, said the latest bulletin of
IMD.
