A Kashmiri flower vendor soaks flowers in the water while waiting for customers on Dal Lake in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Wednesday. (AP)
HYDERABAD, India — Weeks of sweltering temperatures have caused more than 160 deaths in southern and eastern India, officials said Tuesday, warning that any relief from monsoon rains was still likely weeks away.
Most of the heat-wave victims were laborers and farmers in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, though temperatures elsewhere in India have also hit 45 degrees Celsius.
Schools were closed last week in Orissa until at least April 26. Officials in Andhra Pradesh were giving out free water and buttermilk to help people stay hydrated.
And everywhere, people have been urged to stay indoors during the hottest hours of the day.
Y.K. Reddy, a state meteorological official, said the temperatures were about 4-5 degrees Celsius hotter than normal for April. “Normally such high temperatures are recorded in the month of May,” he said.
Police have reported 55 heat-related deaths in Orissa and at least 45 in Andhra Pradesh. Sixty-six were reported in Telangana, though the state’s deputy chief minister, Mohammed Mahmood Ali, said the causes of death were still being verified.
Meanwhile, a 12-year-old girl in the drought-stricken western state of Maharashtra died from the heat while fetching water, Indian broadcaster NDTV said Wednesday.
Making matters worse, India is grappling with severe water shortages and drought affecting more than 300 million people — a quarter of the country’s population.
Thousands of distressed farmers have committed suicide, tens of thousands of farm animals have died, and crops have perished, with rivers, lakes and ponds drying up and groundwater tables sinking.