Calcutta reeled under the twin assault of heat and high humidity for the second successive day on Tuesday with power cuts and summer illnesses compounding woes.

The minimum relative humidity rose a notch over Monday’s reading of 62 per cent, drenching the city in sweat even as the private and state-run power utilities resorted to loadshedding for around two hours in the city and up to three hours in the suburbs.

“The maximum humidity of 88 per cent was not very high. But the minimum humidity, which decides how humid most of the day is, was unusually high at 63 per cent,” said Gokul Chandra Debnath, the director of the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore.

The minimum temperature also rose by three degrees to 29.6 degrees Celsius, negating the nominal comfort offered by a normal maximum temperature (35.9 degrees Celsius) for this time of the year.

That the city had become a sauna was reflected in the discomfort index, 11 degrees above normal at 65.5 degrees Celsius.

The weather is likely to remain much the same for the next couple of days, warned the Met office.

On Tuesday, increased power consumption led to a peak-hour shortfall of 135MW in the CESC-served areas while the state-run utility faced a deficit of 350MW.

Heat-related ailments also showed up in homes across town.

“Several patients have come complaining about mild to severe heat stroke symptoms, temperature and dizziness,” said critical care expert Subrata Maitra.

“Those on regular blood pressure-controlling drugs are especially vulnerable. They should consult their doctors to adjust the dosage of regular drugs. Fever and throat infection after drinking chilled water are also quite common at this time of the year,” he added.

Those spending time in the pool to escape the heat are also falling prey to adenoviruses. The aggressive viruses, found in saliva and public pools, cause pharyngo-conjunctival fever.

“The common symptoms are high temperature, redness of the eye and nausea. Children below eight are particularly vulnerable,” said Apurba Ghosh, the director of the Institute of Child Health.

Roughly one in every 10 children who use public pools suffers from pharyngo- conjunctival fever. Treatment is mostly symptomatic. In some cases, hospitalisation is required.