Bhubaneswar:
Odisha continued to reel under a severe heat wave for the last one week with temperature in the western part of the state hover around 45 degree Celsius. So far, 9 people have been reported to have died in heat wave.
The district headquarters town of Subarnapur, about 280 kms from the state capital Bhubaneswar, recorded a maximum temperature of 46 degree Celsius on Tuesday, the highest for the day in the state.
Day temperature in the coastal part of the state has dropped marginally, but humidity level, added with frequent and long hours of power cuts and acute shortage of drinking water has added to the misery of the people.
On Tuesday, the government confirmed five more deaths due to sunstroke, taking the total heat wave deaths this summer in the state to nine.
The five deaths have been reported from the districts of Balasore, Boudh and Ganjam, a senior official of the state's disaster management department in Bhubaneshwar told IANS.
While the most deaths (three) were reported from Balasore, one death each was reported in Boudh and Ganjam district, he said.