Bhubaneswar, May 2: Rain and thunderstorm in the past 24 hours have brought the mercury down in several coastal districts of the state today.
With the weatherman forecasting thunderstorms at one or two places in the next 24 hours, the state is likely to get some added respite from the severe heatwave condition that has gripped Odisha in the past couple of weeks.
While nearly 15 places recorded temperatures of 40°C and more today, the mercury dipped by 2-3 degrees Celsius in most places compared to yesterday. Temperatures in west Odisha soared following two days of relatively lower temperatures caused by rain and hailstorm. Talcher recorded the day's highest temperature in the state at 44.6°C, followed by Jharsuguda with 44.3°C. Bhawanipatna and Balangir recorded maximum temperatures of 44.2°C.
However, the temperature here went down drastically following yesterday's light rainfall. Bhubaneswar's temperature dipped from 44°C yesterday to 40.1°C today. Similarly, Cuttack recorded a maximum temperature of 38.5°C.
Several places, including Bhubaneswar, received moderate rainfall in the past 24 hours bringing much respite from the scorching heat. Puri received 1mm rainfall, while Gopalpur share was 3.4mm since yesterday. This helped bring down temperatures in both the places.
"Thunderstorm, along with rain, might occur at one or two places in the next 24 hours. The amount of rainfall may vary between 2mm and 20mm. However, heatwave conditions may still prevail in one or two places in the next 48 hours," said an official of the Regional Meteorological Centre.
"Thunderstorms and rain in the past 72 hours have brought much-needed relief from the sultry weather. We had waited a long time to get respite from the heat. We are hopeful that the thunderstorms continue and decrease the day temperature further," said Rasulgarh resident Ashok Jena.
In a related development, the deaths of 135 persons from sunstroke have been reported. So far, investigations into 61 cases have been completed. The office of the special relief commissioner has confirmed 13 cases of sunstroke deaths, while it is probing into the remaining 74 cases.
Previously, the Met department had issued heatwave warnings for several parts of the state. The government had also announced closure of schools on an immediate basis.
