The people of the coastal Odisha on Monday heaved a sigh of relief as the temperature came down marginally due to overnight rains and thundershowers at some places.
However, there was no respite in heat wave conditions in the western Odisha districts. The mercury shot up to 40 degrees and above in 11 towns with Sambalpur recording the hottest at 44.5 degrees Celsius, Angul 41.1, Jharsuguda 43.5, Keonjhargarh 40.7, Sundargarh 42.5, Hirakud 43.2, Talcher 42.2, Bhawanipatna 43, Balangir 43, Titilagarh 44 and Subarnapur recorded 41.5 degrees Celsius.
The temperature in the capital city of Bhubaneswar came down to 39 degrees Celsius on Monday. The city had recorded mercury 40.9 degrees Celsius on Sunday.
The local Met office on Monday evening said some places in the State may witness rains or thundershowers in the next 24 hours under the influence of the formation of a trough line over Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh across the central Odisha.
However, it said heat wave would continue to persist in most parts of the central and interior districts which could be more severe in the next four days from May 22.
Meanwhile, the Special Relief Commissioner’s office said while it received reports of 45 people dying due to sunstroke, the district Collectors have confirmed 18 deaths due to sunstroke and reported 27 deaths due to some other reasons. Out of total 82 alleged deaths, reports for 37 cases are yet to be received from the concerned district Collectors.