BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government on Tuesday announced the closure of all schools and anganwadi centres till April 16 in view of the heat wave that swept across the state after mercury breached 40 degrees Celsius at many places. Upon his arrival from Japan this evening, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik got down to review the heat wave condition. He directed the government and private schools up to class X, along with Anganwadi centres, to be shut down till Sunday.
The CM instructed panchayat raj and drinking water, housing and urban development and energy departments to remain fully prepared. Smooth supply of drinking water both in urban and rural areas with a special focus on water scarcity pockets should be paid special attention, he added.
Naveen also directed the energy department to ensure continuous power supply as maximum day temperature soared past 40 degrees C at seven places prompting the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to issue heatwave alert for the next few days.
The met officials said heat wave will be experienced in north, western and central Odisha districts between April 13 and 15. As per IMD, Baripada at 41.6 degrees C was the hottest of the day, followed by Jharsuguda at 41.2 degrees and Sambalpur at 40.8 degrees C on the day. Bhubaneswar sizzled with the mercury hitting the 40.7 degrees C mark. Boudh, Titlagarh, Angul, Cuttack and Sundargarh also recorded over 40 degrees C temperature.
In view of the flow of northwesterly and westerly dry air and high solar insolation, met officials said maximum temperature is expected to rise further by three to four degrees during next four days. Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Angul, Boudh and Deogarh will feel the sting of the heat between April 13 and 15, the national weather forecaster said. People have been advised to take precautionary measures while stepping outside from 11 am to 3 pm, met officials said.
The sudden rise in temperature is mostly due to weakening northwestern activities that so far helped keep the temperature below normal, said Uma Shankar Das, a scientist at IMD, Odisha.“The moisture in northwesterly and westerly air flowing to the state does not have enough strength to cause thundershower activities which is why mercury has jumped in many places across the state,” he said.
Associate professor in the School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences at IIT Bhubaneswar Sandeep Pattnaik said warm wind flowing from the north-west is taking a turn near the Odisha coast and interacting with the moist wind flowing from the sea.
“This is pushing Bhubaneswar’s apparent temperature and causing more heat stress. Apart from Bhubaneswar, such condition may also prevail in certain parts of coastal districts for the next few days,” he said.
