Girl sells water under an umbrella in the scorching heat of New Delhi
NEW DELHI India’s western state of Maharashtra has reported 25 deaths from heatstroke since late March, the highest number in five years, with more deaths likely in another country with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.
Scientists have linked the early onset of an intense summer to climate change, saying more than 1 billion people in India and neighboring Pakistan are somehow vulnerable to extreme heat.
With monsoon rains not expected until next month and power outages becoming more common in some parts of India, even families who can afford air conditioning will have little rest in the coming weeks.
Many of the deaths in Maharashtra occurred in the more rural areas of India’s wealthiest state.
“These are suspicious deaths from heat stroke,” Pradeep Awate, a health official in Maharashtra, told Reuters.
India is the world’s secondlargest wheat producer, but heat is expected to spoil this year’s harvest after five consecutive years of record harvests.
As demand for energy increases, power generation companies face coal shortages and the government begs them to increase imports.
India recorded its warmest March in over a century, with the maximum temperature across the country rising to 33.1 degrees Celsius, almost 1.86 degrees above normal, according to the Indian Meteorological Institute. Temperatures in excess of 40C have been recorded in many parts of North, West and East India over the past month.
In the eastern state of Odisha, officials said a 64yearold man died of heat stroke on April 25 and hundreds more were receiving medical treatment.
A high of 43.2 degrees Celsius was recorded in Subarnapur, the hottest district of Odisha, on Tuesday.
“It’s very hot,” said Mohana Mahakur, who lives in Subarnapur. “Fan, air cooler nothing works.”
(Reported by Devjyot Ghoshal in New Delhi and Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneswar)