Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has confirmed the season’s first sunstroke death in the state, which has been reeling under a severe heatwave for the past few weeks.
The victim, identified as Gobinda Jena ( 64) of Lakhapada village under Ranapur police station limits in Nayagarh district, suffered a stroke due to the scorching heat when he had gone to the forest to collect firewood on Monday, Dharma Ranjan Panda, the officer on special duty in the office of the Special Relief Commissioner, confirmed on Friday.
He further said that the final report on three more allegations of sunstroke deaths is awaited.
Notably, Odisha has turned into a hot cauldron and Boudh recorded a maximum temperature of 45°C, the highest in the state on Friday. The mercury soared to 40°C and above at 25 places while nine places registered a maximum temperature of 44°C and above in the last 24 hours. The twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack recorded 44.2°C and 44.1°C respectively.
The IMD has issued heatwave warning for Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Sonepur, Boudh and Balangir on Saturday. The temperature is likely to witness a slight dip from May 1 due to thunderstorm activities, it added.
