Rains bring relief

• Temperature down by 4 degrees
• Fewer deaths reportedA
• Showers forecast in Coastal Andhra, Seema

Hyderabad: Parts of the state on Monday experienced considerable let up in the oppressive heat conditions of the past one week, thanks to summer showers that lashed different places under the impact of the low pressure area developed in the Bay of Bengal and advancing South-West Monsoon. The dip in the temperatures helped in bringing much needed relief for the people. While temperatures decreased by three to four degrees the death toll drastically fell to just four. There was also an increase in relative humidity from 50 percent to 95 percent, compared to Sunday, measured at 8.30 hours in the morning. The sky was cloudy in the coastal districts, Telangana and Rayalaseema in which the temperature fell by three to four degrees.

This provided relief to the people who were severely affected by the heat-wave and mostly confined to homes during most part of the day, with the temperature hovering between 44 and 47 degrees Celsius. The Met office forecast rain or thundershowers in the next 24 hours in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, bringing more relief to the people from heat-wave conditions of Sunday. There was heavy rain in the Veldurti area of Kurnool district on Sunday. Water entered several houses and roads were inundated. Vehicle-users faced severe hardship. On Monday heavy rain lashed Tandur area of Ranga Reddy district, uprooting several trees and disrupting power supply. The temperatures recorded in Celsius on Monday were: Kakinada, Tuni 46, Vijayawada 45.4, Warangal 45.3, Visakhapatnam Airport 40, Rentachintala, Bapatla, 45, Visakhapatnam 37, Ongole 44.3, Guntur 44, Gannavaram, Machilipatnam, Ongole 39, Karimnagar 43.4, Khammam 43.3, Ramagundam, Nelllore, Tirupati, Kavali, Nandigama 43, Niza- mabad 42.8 , Nalgonda 42.7, Narsapur, Eluru, Kurnool 42, Hyderabad, Anatapur 40.

Four killed Meanwhile, three persons were killed on Monday following sunstroke in Mahbubnagar district. They were Vajramma (58) of Chintakunta mandal, Anjaiah(55) of Farukhnagar mandal and Ramachandraiah (48) of Bomraspet mandal. There were showers in Mahbubnagar, Shadnagar, Jadcharla and Kodangal areas of the district, providing relief to the people from heat-wave conditions. In Paderu a tribal woman, Chinnamani (45), died of sun stroke, despite Visakhapatnam district experiencing a spell of rain on Sunday night.