India Heatwave Toll Rises To 622 Despite Rains

May 16, 2002

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - The death toll from a heat wave in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh climbed to 622 Thursday, even as rains fell in some parts of the province, officials said.

Officials said more deaths had been reported from remote coastal districts. Most were of people admitted to a hospital after suffering sunstroke in the past week.

The heat wave is the worst in four years and comes ahead of the annual monsoon rains which usually first hit the southern coast of Kerala in June and spread across the rest of the country over the next three months.

Officials said temperatures, which hit a peak of 118 degrees F. in the worst affected areas, had fallen in the past two days because of the rains, the first since March. Temperatures normally hover between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius around this time of year.

"In the next couple of days, there's a likelihood of an increase in rain in several places," said C.V.V. Bhadram, director with the Hyderabad Meteorological Center.

Most of the victims were from the rural belt where farmers and hawkers suffered heatstroke due to dehydration.

Large swathes of northern India have also been reeling under scorching daytime temperatures but have not been as badly affected as the southern part of the country.

http://webcenter.newssearch.netscape.com/aolns_display.adp?key=
200205161409000270530_aolns.src