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Summer death toll reaches 223

With 48 more deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the national toll due to sunstroke this summer has gone up to 223.

Twentyfive people died in Orissa. Rajasthan accounted for 20 more deaths.

A report from Bhubaneshwar said hundreds of people have been admitted to hospitals and small clinics in western Orissa, where the mercury has been hovering near the 47 degree mark for the last seven days.

As many as 17 people died in Sambalpur, five in Jharsuguda and one each in Angul, Rourkela and Bolangir.

The small town of Titlagarh in Bolangir district recorded a high 48.1 degrees celsius Wednesday.

The heatwave in western Orissa is likely to continue for the next 72 hours.

In Rajasthan, the death toll reached 108 with 20 more deaths reported on Wednesday.

Dholpur and Bikaner towns recorded the maximum temperature of 49 degrees celsius on Tuesday. In Dholpur, the mercury has been over the 49 degree mark for the past five days.

In Andhra Pradesh, three more victims fell to the murderous heatwave. High temperatures and persistent dry northerly winds prevailed in the state's south coastal parts.

Severe heatwave conditions also prevailed in Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, North Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and parts of Vidarbha.

Day temperatures were appreciably above normal in Saurashtra, Konkan, Kerala and parts of coastal and south interior Karnataka. They were normal in parts of the hills of West Uttar Pradesh, Kashmir and Gujarat region.

They were markedly below normal in parts of sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, and appreciably below normal in the remaining parts of Bihar.

They were normal over the rest of the country outside Arunachal Pradesh and the plains of West Uttar Pradesh from where data was sparse.

Heavy rains are likely in isolated places in Andaman and Nicobar islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura in the next 48 hours.

Rain or thundershowers occurred at many places in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, at a few places in Andaman and Nicobar islands, West Bengal, Sikkim, south interior Karnataka and Kerala, and at isolated places in Assam, Meghalaya and the hills of West Uttar Pradesh.

Very light rain also occurred at isolated places in East Uttar Pradesh.

Mainly dry weather prevailed over the rest of the country.

Rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at many places in Andaman and Nicobar islands, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Lakshadweep, at a few places in Arunachal Pradesh, Gangetic West Bengal and Kerala, and at isolated places in Orissa, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and coastal and south interior Karnataka.

Mainly dry weather will prevail over the rest of the country.

	Temperatures (Degrees C)
City	Maximum	Minimum
Agartala	30 (-3)	22 (-2)
Amritsar	46 (+6)	24 (+1)
Ahmedabad	43 (+3)	29 (+2)
Aurangabad	42 (+4)	24 (+1)
Bangalore	34 (+2)	21 (0)
Bhopal	45 (+5)	29 (+2)
Bhubaneshwar	36 (0)	24 (0)
Bombay	36 (+3)	29 (+2)
Calcutta	35 (0)	27 (0)
Chandigarh	44 (+5)	30 (+5)
Dehradun	38 (+2)	26 (+3)
Gangtok	21 (-1)	16 (+1)
Guwahati	32 (+1)	24 (0)
Hyderabad	44 (+6)	29 (+3)
Imphal	31 (+2)	20 (0)
Indore	43 (+4)	26 (+1)
Jabalpur	45 (+5)	32 (+6)
Jaipur	47 (+6)	32 (+5)
Kanyakumari	33 (0)	28 (+2)
Lucknow	40 (-1)	27 (0)
Madras	43 (+5)	31 (+3)
Mangalore	34 (+3)	27 (+3)
Minicoy	35 (+4)	28 (+2)
Nagpur	46 (+4)	31 (+2)
New Delhi	46 (+5)	30 (+2)
Patna	34 (-5)	26 (-1)
Panaji	35 (+3)	29 (+3)
Pune	37 (+1)	24 (+1)
Rajkot	43 (+3)	27 (+2)
Shillong	23 (-1)	15 (-1)
Srinagar	28 (+2)	15 (+3)
Thiruvananthapuram	34 (+3)	27 (+2)
Varanasi	40 (-1)	27 (-1)
Vishakhapatnam	40 (+6)	30 (+2)

UNI

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