According to government data, over the past 4 years, 4620 people in India have died due to unrelenting and deadly heatwave. The sad reality of this data is more than 90 percent of the reported deaths are from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana region.
The death toll provided by Ministry of Earth and Sciences may differ a bit with 4246, but it is still an alarming number that needs to be tackled. Heat wave is declared when the maximum temperature of a region is more than 4-5 degrees of the normal levels.
In 2016, almost 1600 people died due to irregular weather conditions. 557 of those 1600 casualties were the victims of severe heat wave. In the year 2015, 2081 deaths were recorded due to severe heat wave. A year earlier to that 549 people died due to summer torture.
In 2013, severe heatwave killed 1443 people, of which 1393 were from the Andhra Pradesh state only.
Heat causes dehydration which leads to respiratory and renal failure, especially for those prone to heart and kidney ailments. Infants and the elderly top the list in casualties. Other health related issues pop up due to the unforgiving heatwave.
At present, it is just the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh which is witnessing heat wave conditions. The rest of the country is free from the grip of the deadly heatwave. But some relief is in store for the region. From April 27 to April 30, dust storm and thunderstorm activity is expected over Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This activity will be coupled with light rainfall.
This weather activity will reduce the mercury level but it will also increase the humidity levels over the region. So, beginning of May will be hot as well uneasy but the April end will bring in some relief over the region.
Image Credit: TimesOfIndia
Please Note: Any information picked from here must be attributed to skymetweather.com