The heat wave sweeping Andhra Pradesh for over 20 days now showed signs of easing on Saturday, but the number of casualties caused by the soaring tempratures rose to 1,317.
"The heat wave that has had Andhra Pradesh in its grip for over three weeks now is slowly subsiding. The hot spell, which affected large areas of the state earlier, is now restricted to some pockets like Krishna and Khammam districts," Hyderabad Meteorological Centre Director C V V Bhadram told rediff.com on Saturday.
Temperatures in several parts of the state have slid into the 41-43 degree Celsius range from peak 45-48 degree Celsius. "May be in another few days there will be further improvement in the situation," Bhadram said.
The meteorological centre revised its severe heat wave warning to a heat wave warning on Saturday for parts of south coastal Andhra and Telangana regions over the next two days.
The temperatures are likely to be 5 to 6 degree Celsius above normal in these areas.
The trough, which was responsible for the hot winds across the state since May 16, has begun to fizzle out following the onset of the monsoon in the Northeast.
Bhadram said pre-monsoon showers or light rains have occurred at a few places in the state, including Gajapathinagaram and Srungavarapukota in Vizianagaram district in the past 24 hours. Isolated light rains/thunder showers are likely to occur in south coastal Andhra districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam over the next 24 hours.
"Conditions are favourable for the onset of the south-west monsoon over Kerala in the next two to three days. Cloud movement is there in the Arabian Sea," Bhadram said.
The state relief commissioner's office said the toll due to the heat wave stood at 1317 on Saturday, with 32 deaths reported between Friday evening and Saturday noon.
West Godavari tops with 261 fatalities so far, followed by East Godavari 199, Nalgonda 192, Guntur 184, Prakasam 98, Krishna 77, Warangal 50, Chittoor 44, Karimnagar 41, Nellore 36, Visakhapatnam and Khammam 27 each, Adilabad 26, Kurnool 18, Hyderabad 13, Nizamabad 11, Mahbubnagar and Rangareddy 5 each, Srikakulam 4 and Cuddapah 1.
Meanwhile, President A P J Abdul Kalam expressed deep concern over the deaths due to the heat wave.
Addressing a meeting after inaugurating a medical college during his stopover at Kuppam, the constituency of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Kalam called on the medical community to provide mobile clinics in rural areas.