Rain brings some respite though heat will continue
Mild rain and strong winds hit many parts of Hyderabad and its outskirts on Friday evening. (Photo: PTI)
Hyderabad: The death toll due to the ongoing heatwave crossed the 1,900 mark in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Friday with more than 75 per cent of the deaths being reported from AP. Between Thursday and Friday night, 156 people died in AP while 49 people died in Telangana state, taking the death toll to 1,490 in AP and 489 in TS.
In AP, Prakasam district has witnessed the maximum number of deaths at 321 while in Telangana, Nalgonda district has had the maximum deaths, at 126. As per IMD reports, the heatwave conditions are expected to continue on Saturday too, though it had earlier predicted that the conditions would ease by Friday.
Heatwave warnings have been issued for Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts in AP and for Adilabad, Warangal, Khammam, Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Karimnagar districts in Telangana.
Maximum temperatures were above normal by 2-4°C at most places in TS on Friday as per the IMD report. The highest maximum temperature of 46.8ºC was recorded at Jangamaheshwarapuram in Guntur on Friday in AP while Nalgonda sizzled at 46ºC in Telangana.
Meanwhile, mild showers on Friday evening brought some relief to people in some parts of Hyderabad and also across a few places in Andhra Pradesh. A warning for thunderstorms has also been issued for isolated places over Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Heatwave now a natural calamity:
For the first time, the Centre has changed norms to grant relief and “compensation” for deaths occurring due to the intense heatwave in the country. The relief will be provided from the Disaster Relief Funds of the respective state governments, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday.
Mr Singh, while speaking about the death toll due to the severe heatwave that has been sweeping many parts of the country, including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, said norms have recently been revised and henceforth such victims would now be given compensation from the fund by the respective state governments.
“We have sent an advisory to states in this regard,” Mr Singh adding that the allocations under the fund have also been enhanced. It may be recalled that the previous UPA government had formed a GoM (Group of Ministers) to discuss and decide on the inclusion of heatwave as a natural calamity.
At present, avalanches, cyclone, cloud burst, drought, earthquake or tsunami, fire, floods, hailstorm, landslides, pest attack and frost or coldwave are defined as natural calamity by the Central government. A compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh under the NDRF is given to the next of kin of those killed in a natural calamity.
Monsoon likely to be on time:
With the Meteorological department predicting heavy and widespread rainfall across Kerala during the next 24 hours, conditions seem to be favourable for the onset of monsoon.
The Thiruvananthapuram Met centre has predicted rainfall in all 14 districts of Kerala with heavy rainfall in isolated places from the morning of May 30 which will continue till June 1.
According to the operational forecast of Monsoon given by IMD for 2015, the South-West Monsoon is likely to set over Kerala on May 30 with a model error of ±4 days. The South-West Monsoon normally sets in over Kerala around June 1 and advances northwards, usually in surges, covering the entire country by July 15. Met experts say rainfall activity is picking up and hopefully it will strengthen during the next 24 hours.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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