Ranchi, June 19: The sun in the Ranchi sky has been playing hide-and-seek for the past 48 hours but there is no respite from the scorching heat.

The state has witnessed more than 80 deaths in the past 48 hours due to the heat wave with the mercury touching nearly 42 degrees Celsius. Deoghar, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Simdega, Gumla, Lohardaga and Palamau districts are worst affected where 25 people died out of heat wave on Friday. While another 67 was reported dead on Saturday.

According to the Met office, the temperature in the capital in the next 24 hours may come down considerably if it rains. The present temperature is, however, 41.8 degrees Celsius. There are also chances of rainfall at places due to local formation of clouds.

?Chances of pre-monsoon rain are gaining shape in Ranchi. There is a possibility of rain at one or two places in or around Ranchi. The monsoon is likely to reach the state by June 20 or 22,? said A. Wadood, Met adviser of BAU.

Most of the districts in the state have temperatures above 41 degrees Celsius while there are districts that have broken records of the past 50 years and crossed 50 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

The temperature in Bagdigih and Lodna had already touched 50 degrees Celsius. The temperature in Ranchi has remained above 40 degrees Celsius for more than 30 days in continuation.

Around three people died in Ranchi while the maximum death toll was at Jharia in Dhanbad where reportedly 10 people died due to heat wave. On Saturday, in Dhanbad district alone 22 died and 10 people died in Chaibasa.

The situation of water in Ranchi too have become grave as people have resorted to underground boring. Supply of domestic water has also hindered due to the extreme heat. Pankaj Sethi, proprietor of Nirmal Jalone, one of the largest suppliers of filtered domestic water, said: ?This year we have faced problem in supplying water. Our normal production is 2,500 litres of water per hour, which has got reduced to 1,000 litres per hour.?

While supply water is irregular and inadequate, groundwater has reduced so much that people are forced to take help of professional water carriers.

The water levels of different dams have also reduced tremendously and broken records of more than 20 years. The Rukka dam has only seven feet water level while the condition of Kanke dam is nothing better. The condition of Dhurwa Dam, which supplies an average of 9 million gallons of water per day, is also very poor.