At least 25 people have been killed since the end of March in the western Indian state of Maharashtra due to the heatwave, the highest number in five years, with more deaths likely to be reported elsewhere in the country as temperatures remain above freezing for weeks. 40 degrees Celsius.
Scientists have linked the early onset of summer to climate change and report that more than one billion people in India and neighboring Pakistan are vulnerable in one way or another to extreme heat.
As the cool monsoon rains are not expected until next month and power outages are becoming more common in some parts of India, even households that can afford air conditioning will find it difficult to cope with the heat. next weeks.
Many of the deaths in Maharashtra were recorded in the rural areas of the richest state of India.
“It is believed that these are deaths from heatstroke,” said Pradip Aguate, a state health official.
India is the second largest producer of cereals in the world, but this year’s heat is expected to limit the crop, after five years of record.
Moreover, at a time when demand for energy is rising, electricity suppliers are facing carbon shortages and the government is urging them to increase their imports.
Last March was the hottest in India for more than a century, with the country’s highest temperature reaching 33.1 degrees Celsius, almost 1.86 degrees above normal, according to the Meteorological Service of India. . In many areas in the north, west and east India temperature in April exceeded 40 degrees Celsius.
In the eastern state of Odisha, authorities said a 64-year-old man had died of heatstroke on April 25 and hundreds more needed medical attention.
Today in the warmest city of the state, in Subarnapur, the temperature reached 43.2 degrees.
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