The State continued to be in the grip of the heat wave for the third consecutive day on Friday with as many as 14 places recording the day temperature above 40 degree Celsius throwing normal life out of gear.
Sonepur recorded the highest temperature of 43.2 degree Celsius, followed by Bhawanipatna and Titilagarh with 42.6 and 42.3 degrees, respectively.
The temperature of Bhubaneswar moderately dropped to 41.2 degree from 43.2 degree on the previous day.
The other 10 places that recorded above 40 degree Celsius are Malkangiri (42.4), Dhenkanal (41.4), Chandbali (41.2), Angul (42.1), Jharsuguda (41.1), Sambalpur (41.5), Sundargarh (40), Hirakud (41.6), Talcher (41.6) and Balangir (42).
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Centre, Bhubaneswar said the heat wave condition would prevail for next seven days. The unbearable heat wave has claimed a couple of lives in the State. On Friday, a sunstroke death was reported in Balangir district. One Tashil Bag (52) of lukapada died of sunstroke while returning home after taking bath in a nearby pond.