Orange alert for Ahmedabad again, mercury to touch 44 degree Celsius

The city has once again issued an orange alert for Sunday, the fourth such alert to be issued this week. Temperatures on Sunday are expected to rise to 44 degree Celsius. In fact, if the Met department's warnings are to be believed, the situation is not likely to improve until Tuesday.

On Saturday, the city recorded a maximum temperature of 44.3 degree Celsius, which was three degree above normal. The minimum temperature also touched to 29.1 degree Celsius, which is a degree above normal temperature. It should be noted that simultaneous rise is recorded in both maximum and minimum temperature and this is likely to have far severe impact on people.

In the last decade, only four times has the maximum temperature for the month of June been around 44 degree Celsius or beyond.

Meanwhile, across the city, 105 heat related cases were reported by the 108 emergency service of which maximum (29) involved the victims going unconscious. On Friday, the city had seen 186 such cases. Across the state maximum cases were reported from Ahmedabad followed by Surat.

The Met department has also warned of heat wave like conditions in isolated pockets in the districts of Saurashtra particularly Rajkot, Amreli and Surendranagar. The warning indicates that the weather may be a hazard for infants, elderly and those with chronic disease.

Across the state, Surendranagar was recorded the hottest place with a maximum temperature of 45.3 degree Celsius followed by Rajkot which was at 44.5 degree Celsius which was followed by Ahmedabad. It should be noted that the average temperature for Ahmedabad for the month of June is around 38.8 degree Celsius.

Meanwhile, the officials of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation said they are continuing with the efforts to ensure that there is minimum discomfort to the citizens and have requested citizens to keep themselves hyderated.

"We have ensured there are enough ORS packets in both BRTS and AMTS buses. We have also made arrangements for drinking water supply at public places and have also ensured that the public gardens are open till 11 in the night," said an official. He said both government and private practitioners have been asked to attend to heat stroke patients on an urgent basis.