India's Deadly Heat Wave Drags On As Death Toll Rises To 1826

Dizzying temperatures has caused water shortages in thousands of Indian villages and killed hundreds more people over the past day, driving the death toll from a weekslong heat wave to at least 1,826 by yesterday.

Meteorological officials called the heat wave "severe" and warned that it would continue for at least two days across a huge swathe of the South Asian country from Tamil Nadu in the south to the Himalayan foothill state of Himachal Pradesh.

Most of
those killed by heat-related conditions including dehydration and heat stroke have been in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where 100 people died just on Thursday as temperatures hovered about 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit).

Thousands of water tankers were delivering supplies to more than 4,000 villages and hamlets facing acute water shortages in the central state of Maharashtra, but it has only helped a little.

Scorched crops and dying wildlife were reported, with some animals succumbing to thirst.

Cooling monsoon rains are expected next week in the south before gradually advancing north. May God step into their boat.