Summer seems to be at its peak all over western Odisha. The scourge is felt in the form of blistering heat which has made life difficult.
Mercury touched 46.8 degrees Celsius on Saturday known as the highest in the last 13 years. And the lowest temperature was 24.9 degrees Celsius on the same day, Met department sources said.
A curfew like situation prevailed across Sambalpur district, including Sambalpur headquarters town. This happened when Balangir recorded highest temperature on Friday in the State and the rest districts in the western part sizzled under never-so-bitter heat.
It is now difficult to come out of home after 8 am in the morning.
Scorching summer, frequent power cuts and drinking water shortage add to the woes further. Even the Government servants prefer to stay in offices instead of going home after the office hours. Businessmen prefer to keep their shutters down during the day time due to unbearable summer heat too.
It needs to be mentioned here that the district had recorded 47.2 degrees Celsius temperature on May 22, 1948. It was 47.5 degrees C on May 23, 1998. Hence, the present 47.5 degrees C was the highest temperature of the last century. Further, in 1998 hundreds of people had died due to unprecedented sunstrokes.
According Met department sources, temperature in most other western districts, including Balangir, Sonepur, Kalahandi and Sundargarh remained above 45 degrees Celsius on Saturday throwing normal life out of gear. The temperature at the Hirakud industrial town stood at 45.6 degrees Celsius, just a degree less than that of the Sambalpur town.
Moreover, shortage of water in forests forced the wild animals to stray into human habitations leading to a rise in poaching.