The city’s trial by heat got more gruelling on Thursday, which was the second-hottest April day in 50 years, and the Met office has warned that the ongoing heatwave might continue at least till April 29.

The Met office recorded a maximum temperature of 41.6 degrees, six notches
above normal, in Alipore. It was the second-hottest April day in Kolkata in
five decades, according to Met records.

On April 25, 1980, the maximum temperature in Kolkata was 41.7 degrees. The record is likely to be broken soon, going by the Met forecast.

A heatwave bulletin issued on Thursday predicted a “gradual rise in day temperature by 1-3°C during the next three days in south Bengal”.

The heatwave is likely to last at least till April 29, the bulletin said.

Only the diehard IPL fans seemed undeterred.

Around 12.30pm, a ticket collection centre on the Maidan was teeming with people on the eve of a KKR match. The Knights take on the Punjab Kings at Eden on Friday.

Basudeb Vyas, who hails from Bihar, was there to collect tickets for Friday’s match. He was with his wife. He carried his baby daughter in one hand and an umbrella in another.

“It is indeed very hot. But the IPL fever is hotter,” said Vyas, a railway employee.

The match starts at 7.30pm and the fans will be spared the direct assault of the sun.

The Met office said: “Dry westerly to north-westerly wind at lower levels continue to prevail over the region and due to strong solar insolation, heat-wave conditions are very likely to prevail over the districts of West Bengal during 25th–29th April.”

Signs of the heatwave were everywhere in Kolkata.

Around 1.15pm, the only pedestrian at the usually busy Park Street-Chowringhee Road intersection was a woman, all covered up.

Around 1.45pm, two men were resting at a bus stand on AJC Bose Road. One of them was riding a scooter. “It is impossible to keep riding at a stretch. The winds that hit you feel like fire,” he said.

Humans were not the only ones suffering. A white tiger that the Alipore zoo recently received from the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Visakhapatnam spent a considerable part of the day in a water body,” said a zoo official.

The Met bulletin recommended the following precautionary steps:

• Extreme care needed for vulnerable people.
• Avoid prolonged heat exposure and outside work from 11am to 4pm.
• Wear lightweight, light-coloured, loose, cotton clothes. Cover your head.
• Drink sufficient water, even if not thirsty.
• Recognize the signs of heat stroke, heat rash or heat cramps such as weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, sweating and seizures. If you feel sick, consult a doctor or visit a hospital immediately.