By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Orissa Thursday asked district collectors to ensure adequate supply of drinking water and keep medical staff on alert as temperatures crossed 40 degrees Celsius in some parts of the eastern coastal state.
“The state government has alerted all district collectors,” Manoranjan Chaudhuri, officer on special duty at the state revenue control room here, told IANS.
“They have been asked take measures to provide drinking water, adequate shelters and keep adequate stock of medicines and prepare medical staff to provide healthcare,” he added.
According to the met department, the maximum temperature here Wednesday was recorded at 40.4 degrees Celsius, eight degrees above normal.
The maximum temperature in the adjoining town of Cuttack was 39.1 degrees Celsius, while in four other towns – Chandbali, Bolangir Malkangiri and Baripada – it was 38 degrees, a met official said.
The temperatures recorded in other parts of the state ranged between 31 and 37 degrees Celsius.
The highest temperature recorded here was 42.7 degrees Celsius in February 1963. However, the highest temperature ever recorded in the state was 50.1 degrees at Titilagarh in June 2003.
A heat wave in Orissa in May 1998 killed over 2,000 people.