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04-05-2024
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI/ KERALA: India’s Kerala state has closed all schools and colleges until Monday due to scorching temperatures, urging people in the coastal region to limit exposure to the sun and take care to prevent wildfires.
With most parts of India reeling from high temperatures, the weather department has forecast an unusually high number of heatwave days for April to June, as the country stages a general election that has seen a low voter turnout.
Heatwaves are rare in Kerala and data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows that the state recorded five heatwave days in April.
Referring to the current El Nino weather pattern, the IMD said on Wednesday that El Nino years typically have more heating, with hot and dry weather in Asia and heavier rains in parts of the Americas.
Fewer thunderstorms and an anti-cyclonic circulation near India’s southeastern coast were causing heatwaves, the IMD said.
Kerala’s state government on Thursday directed people to minimize exposure to the sun and urged authorities to monitor situations to avoid fires. With several districts issuing heatwave warnings, the government asked all educational institutions to be shut till Monday.
Heatwaves have forced school closures in parts of Asia and North Africa too, widening learning gaps between developing nations in the tropics and developed countries, experts told media.
Local media reported that at least two people died earlier this week in Kerala, but authorities are yet to confirm if their death was due to extreme heat.
On Thursday, temperature in state capital Thiruvananthapuram touched 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) but the IMD said it felt like 46 (115) due to high humidity.
Soaring temperatures and dry spells have caused frequent forest fires in other parts of India, and the blazes have been worsened by people burning the forest to collect a flower used to brew alcohol in Odisha state.
At least two people have died in the southern India’s state of Kerala of suspected heat stroke, media reported on Monday, as the country battles temperatures soaring to record levels.
A 90-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man died in Kerala on Sunday, the Hindu newspaper reported, as temperatures soared to 41.9 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit), nearly 5.5 degrees Celsius above normal.
“We are yet to confirm whether these deaths were due to heatwaves. The medical process for examining the deaths is on,” state disaster management official Shekhar Kuriakose said in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
Scientists have said climate change is contributing to more frequent, severe, and longer heatwaves during summer months.
Temperatures across Kerala, at India’s southern tip, were expected to be higher than normal, causing authorities to issue warnings asking people to take precautions against the heat such as staying indoors.
In neighboring Tamil Nadu state, a local politician was handing out fresh fruit, coconuts, and cold drinks in Chennai to help people keep cool.
India’s weather department has predicted more heatwave days than normal between April and June, when the monsoon will hit and temperatures usually fall.
In the eastern state of Odisha, where temperatures touched 44.9 C (113 F) on Sunday, the highest recorded in April, at least two people have died this summer of sun stroke, said Odisha’s public health director Niranjan Mishra.
