VIJAYAWADA: There is no respite from the sweltering heat as temperatures continue to hover around 46 degree Celsius mark at several places in AP.
Severe heat wave conditions persisted on Sunday and Met department officials say the situation will continue to be so till May 26. On Sunday, the highest temperature of 47.2 degree Celsius was recorded at Tuni in East Godavari district, followed by 46.7 degree Celsius in Kakinada, 46.5 degree Celsius in Machilipatnam, 46.4 degree Celsius in Bapatla and 46 degree Celsius in Vijayawada. According to Met officials, severe heat wave conditions are now making their presence felt in north coastal Andhra districts, which, until a couple of days ago, were relatively cool when compared to the rest of the state. A record 45.3 degree Celsius was recorded at Anakapalli and 45 degree Celsius was recorded at Visakhapatnam Airport. However, sea breeze by evening had brought down the temperatures and in Visakhapatnam city, the temperature stood at 34.6 degree Celsius. The number of deaths due to heat wave conditions as reported to Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas during a video conference with DMHOs on Sunday stood at 224 of which 62 had occurred on Sunday itself.
However, several of them were not confirmed and the officials told the minister that the cause of these deaths was still being ascertained. In Visakhapatnam district itself, 24 deaths took place on Sunday.
In the neighbouring Vizianagaram, seven deaths were reported. Around 160 people were suspected to have died in the last one week due to sunstroke in the three north coastal districts.
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