Apart from bringing relief to the people, the thunderstorm and heavy rain in Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana State also wreaked havoc. The gale winds and rains, which continued till late in to the night uprooted trees and hoardings and disrupted power supply at many places.
At least four people were killed at different places due to the lightning. The deaths were reported from Ranga Reddy, Mehbubnagar and Adilabad district in Telangana and Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh. Thunderstorm also struck parts of Kurnool district where an under construction 54 feet tall idol of lord Hanuman collapsed in Panyam Mandal.
India Meteorological Centre at Hyderabad said that the thunder showers were result of Cumulonimbus cloud cover over the region. Weather scientist Narasimha Rao said that more rains are likely in Telangana over the next couple of days as winds were blowing from Bay of Bengal towards coastal Andhra and Telangana region.
However, the situation in most parts of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh remain unchanged as heatwave conditions continued in Rayalaseem and parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh on Monday.
Weather office warned that the heatwave will continue at many places in AP over the next 48 hours as the temperature was hovering between 42 to 44 degrees Celsius at several places in the State.
While there was a significant fall in the day temperature in Hyderabad bringing a huge relief to the people, other districts were still unbearably hot, officials said. In Hyderabad, minimum temperature fell to 28 degrees Celsius while the maximum day temperature on Sunday was 42 degrees.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Government has assured the State High Court that it was taking all the necessary measures to ease the sufferings of the people in the face of the heatwave. In its report to the court the Government said that it opened 6,971 drinking water supply kiosks, 3,084 shelters, 1,0945 health camps and distributed 611,209 packets of Oral Rehydration Salts. The Government also assured the court that it will pay compensation to the families of the victims of the heatwave.
According to an estimate 60 people have died in Andhra Pradesh during the last few days of heatwave.
The AP Cabinet, which met in Vijaywada on Monday decided to supply butter-milk free of cost at all the drinking water supply centres. Cool drinking water will also be distributed at all the public places — including bus stations, railway stations and markets, the Government said. For this purpose the Government was releasing Rs 3 crore to each of the ten districts in the State.