Delhi records hottest night ever as relentless heatwave claims five lives

Shweta Sharma
·3-min read

An intensifying heatwave sweeping northern India has killed five more people in Delhi as the capital recorded the hottest night ever.

The extreme heat has hit the poor and the homeless the hardest and they accounted for all the latest fatalities in Delhi.

The deaths were reported from the city’s hospitals from Monday to Wednesday.

Frequent power cuts and water shortages have compounded the struggles of the capital’s 20 million residents, the Times of India reported.

Several dozen people, mostly labourers, security guards and outdoors workers, have reportedly been admitted to hospitals with symptoms related to heatstroke.

The city experienced the hottest night ever on Wednesday with the minimum temperature scaling to 35.2C, eight degrees above normal, according to the weather department.

It was the hottest night since records began in 1969, breaking the previous record of 34.7C on 3 June 2010.

Staff prepare an inflated ice bed in the heatstroke ward of Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi (AFP via Getty)
Staff prepare an inflated ice bed in the heatstroke ward of Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi (AFP via Getty)

Northern India has been reeling under a prolonged heatwave this summer with temperatures hovering around 45C for days.

The country has reported hundreds of deaths from heatstroke since May, including dozens of workers engaged in conducting the national election that concluded early this month.

Government data released in May suggested 60 people had died from heat-related illnesses between March and May. But activists said the actual number was far higher.

The need for cooling has increased the load on the capital’s power grid with consumption soaring to a record 8,647 megawatts this week.

On Tuesday, the demand for power peaked at 89,000 megawatts with many localities suffering frequent power cuts.

People fill their containers with water distributed by a municipal tanker in Delhi (AFP via Getty)
People fill their containers with water distributed by a municipal tanker in Delhi (AFP via Getty)

The city’s international airport also witnessed a power cut for several minutes, impacting operations.

Pictures shared on social media showed passengers queued up at check-in counters as the staff tried to restart their systems.

There is a water crisis as well with several areas in the city reporting no to very low supply, forcing residents to buy from water tankers at inflated prices.

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