Dizzying temperatures have claimed the lives of hundreds of Indians over the past few days. Water shortages in thousands of villages has driven the death toll to at least 1,826.
Meteorological officials called the heat wave “severe” and warned that it would continue for at least two days across a huge swathe of the South Asian country from Tamil Nadu in the south, to Himachal Pradesh in the north.
Most of those killed by heat-related conditions, including dehydration and heat stroke, have been in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where 100 people died just on Thursday as temperatures hovered around 43 degrees Celsius.
Thousands of water tankers were delivering supplies to more than 4,000 villages and hamlets facing acute water shortage in the central state of Maharashtra, state water department officials said.
Scorched crops and dying wildlife, with some animals succumbing to thirst, have also been reported from different parts of the country.
Cooling monsoon rains were expected next week in the south, before gradually advancing north. However, forecasting service AccuWeather warned of prolonged drought conditions, with the monsoon likely to be disrupted by a more active typhoon season over the Pacific.
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