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| A man cycles in the rain in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee |
Bhubaneswar, April 20: A spell of thundershower came as a relief to the residents of the city here this evening.
While the city today recorded a maximum temperature of 41.7°C, a rainfall of 0.6mm was enough to bring cheers to the people here.
Weatherman forecast a decline in temperature by 2°C in the city and thundershowers till April 25.
“Temperature of the city is likely to increase only after April 25,” said director of the regional meteorological centre Sarat Chandra Sahu. The city has been reeling from heat wave conditions as the temperature has been hovering around 40°C mark this week. The city recorded a maximum temperature of 40.4°C and 39.8°C on Saturday and Friday respectively. Similarly, the temperature stood at 40.4°C and 39.7°C on Thursday and Wednesday respectively.
“The temperature is increasing day by day and it has already crossed 41°C this month. We have been eagerly waiting for a spell of shower and thankfully the city received a shower this evening,” said Santanu Baral, a city resident.
Though the temperature remained above 40°C mark in as many as six places across the state, including Bhubaneswar, temperature in several places in west Odisha remained below 40°C. Talcher was the hottest place in the state today with mercury level reaching 42°C there.
“For the last week, we were hopeful of rain as the sky remained cloudy in the evening. But, there was no rain. It has become difficult to sleep in the night due to hot and humid weather,” said Babuli Parija, another city resident.
However, one person died and two others were seriously injured by lightning this evening. Abhimanyu Das, 52, a resident of a colony on the premises of Utkal University died and his son Pratap Das, 22, was injured when the lightning struck both of them while they were collecting mangoes. Similarly, Prahlad Behera, 60, a resident of Barang on the city outskirts, was seriously injured when lightning struck him. Both Prahlad and Pratap were rushed to Capital Hospital and both are under medical observation.
