[1]In what appeared to be the first case of death due to heat in the city, a 45-year-old woman was found dead near a Delhi Metro station in central Delhi on Tuesday. The incident occurred on a day mercury continued to remain high. The heat wave condition in the city is likely to abate over the next two days.
According to the police, the body of the unidentified woman, aged around 45, was discovered by commuters near R.K. Ashram Metro station premises on Tuesday morning. Police sources said that lack of shelter and water when the heat and humidity was so high could have resulted in her death. “There were no injury marks on her body or any other evidence to suggest that she was killed,” said a police officer. DCP (central) Jaspal Singh said that the exact reason could be ascertained only after a post-mortem. He added that there was no evidence of foul play.
Meanwhile, a Delhi Transco official said that the peak power demand in the city on Tuesday was 4,336 MW. The power companies had to resort to load shedding. Also, a 210 MW unit of BTPS had to be stopped due to a leak in the boiler tube. The unit was shut down around 12.30 am and could be restored only around 5.50 pm. Several areas, particularly Malviya Nagar in south Delhi, were affected due to powercuts with residents barely able to sleep. The maximum temperature in the city on Tuesday was recorded at 44.6 degrees Celsius (four degrees above normal), while the minimum temperature was 32 degrees Celsius (five degrees Celsius above normal). The minimum temperature was highest for May 18 in the last five years. “The high minimum temperature was a result of clouds appearing over the sky during the night, which prevented normal radiation process that brings down the heat,” said a weather official.
The heat wave conditions have been prevailing due to dry and hot westerlies. However, over the next couple of days, the temperatures are likely to come down by two to four degrees as the wind pattern would change.
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/deljpg-934