Odisha Confirms Summer’s First Sunstroke Death From Balasore

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Friday confirmed the season’s first heatwave-related death as the state continued to reel under severe heatwave conditions with sharp rise in the mercury levels at some places.

The deceased has been identified as Laxmikanta Sahu (62) of Maheshpur under Bhogarai Tehsil in Balasore district. He died of sunstroke on April 15.

The mercury had soared to 39.6°C in Balasore by 11.30 am on April 15 amid yellow warning of heatwave for one or two places over in Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, and Balasore districts. Hot and humid weather condition also prevailed at one or two places in Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Puri, Mayurbhanj, and Jajpur.

The office of Special Relief Commissioner further said that the postmortem reports in two more cases – Trinath Bakul of Balangir and Surendra Gouda of Ganjam – reported in the first week of April have confirmed that the death was not due to heat stroke.

More than 70 persons have been admitted to different hospitals after falling sick due to the prevailing heatwave across the state with the highest of 35 from Sundargarh district, and seven each from Mayurbhanj and Angul, sources said.

Usually, Odisha experiences one to three heatwave days in April but this time the state has already recorded six heatwave days in the last 18 days. While warning of severe heatwave continues for two more days, the impact of the blistering heat is likely to subside from April 21 with the MeT office predicting thunderstorm activity.

Also Read: Respite From Heatwave Soon As Odisha Braces For Thunderstorm; IMD Issues Orange & Yellow Alerts