According to official records from the State Epidemic Cell, 38 people have died from heatstroke so far this summer.
Most of the deaths have been from coastal Andhra and a few Telangana districts. In these areas, heat wave conditions are taking their toll on citizens since the mercury has soared 5-7ºC above normal since May 10.
The worst affected parts are Adilabad, Guntur (Bapatla) and Krishna (Machhlipatnam) where temperatures at 47ºC have been 7ºC above normal and at Nizamabad and West Godavari (Narsa-pur), where temperatures hovered 5ºC above normal. In Hyderabad, the mercury rose 4ºC above normal.
Dr Prasad Rao, joint director, AP Epidemic Cell, analysed, “Due to the heat wave conditions in May, 38 people have died in AP, most of them senior citizens. We have kept our district and Area Hospitals equipped with ORS, saline and the required medicines and are giving health education to the villagers.”
Assistant Met officer R.V. Subba Rao predicted, “The heat wave conditions will prevail in most areas in the state till the arrival of the monsoon, which is likely to enter Kerala 48 hours after the scheduled date of June 1.
There is some upper air circulation over the south-west Arabian Sea, which implies a depression may develop. In which case, the advance of the monsoon may be delayed.”
This means there will be no respite from the heat till the rains come in the middle of June.