Bhubaneswar, April 15: Heatwave conditions continued on Thursday to sweep across Odisha with Titlagarh in Bolangir district recording 45.5 degrees Celsius even as the government denied any heat related death in the state so far.
Though the mercury level declined in the coastal belt including the state capital of Bhubaneswar which recorded 40.2 degrees Celsius today, the entire western region of the state was on the boil.
Titlagarh was followed by Sonepur with 45.1 degrees Celsius and Bhawanipatna, the district headquarters of Kalahandi district, recording 44 degrees Celsius.
Sambalpur (42.8), Sundergarh (42), Hirakud (42.7), Bolangir (43.5) and Angul (42.7) also recorded high temperatures, according to the India Meteorological Centre (IMD) officials.
The maximum relative humidity also remained at 83 per cent, same as Wednesday, they said.
As many as 15 places across the state recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius.
Though the unofficial toll due to sunstroke related deaths remained at 30, the state government has so far denied any heat related deaths in the region.
The Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Mohapatra said: “Of the total 30 alleged heat wave related death reports received by the government, five were examined by the district collectors and none of them died of sunstroke.”
The highest five alleged sunstroke death cases came from Khurda district followed by four from Cuttack district, three from Angul district while Balasore, Ganjam, Keonjhar and Nayagarh reported two alleged death cases each.
The districts of Rayagada, Nupada, Mayurbhanj, Jharsuguda, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal, Bhadrak, Bargarh and Bolangir reported one death case each allegedly due to sunstroke.
