Heatwave Death Toll in India Jumps to More Than 1,300
In southern India, where the temperatures are so high the sidewalks are melting, more than 1,300 people are now confirmed dead from the heat.
The unrelenting heat, with highs of 116 degrees, is reportedly hitting the elderly, laborers and the homeless the worst. According to the New York Times, most people seem ill equipped to handle what seems to be an annual issue:
May is typically one of the hottest months of the year in India, with the heat building before the onset of the cooling monsoon season. Yet every year the heat seems to catch residents and the government by surprise.
The high temperatures are the result of hot winds blowing in from the west, leading one local news channel to call the phenomenon a “heat bomb” from Pakistan. B. P. Yadav, of the India Meteorological Department, said the winds had made things worse this year, and contributed to delaying much needed rains in the south. New Delhi, he said, will cool down over the coming days, but heat up again by the end of the month.
The intense heat is reportedly expected to continue for at least another week.
Streets melt in ferocious Indian heatwave as death toll tops 1100: http://t.co/6UOoZg40Su #9News pic.twitter.com/kkAi5mcDg2
May 28, 2015
