In the last three days the scorching sun has reached such intensity that it could manage to suck the life out of at least 440 people taking the total death toll due to the heat wave to 524 in the state of Andhra Pradesh alone.

With the unrelenting heat reaching unexpected highs, the coastal regions of Guntur and Prakasam were most affected. There were at least 95 deaths recorded from Guntur alone. Prakasam district had 75 fatalities. Other majorly affected districts were East Godavari (60), Adilabad (43), Karimnagar (43), Nalgonda (47), Khammam (26), Warangal (20), West Godavari (16), Nizamabad (16) according to the details furnished by state disaster management commissioner.

As expected the families below the poverty line, bpl, who couldn't afford any means of cooling their houses which are almost always not built to cope from the extreme heats, were the most affected. Hence, the government has taken up a scheme, "Apathbandhu" according to which each of the family will receive a financial assistance of Rs 50,000 once they get the post mortem report and FIR.

The temperatures will continue unabated in Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna, East and West Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts while heat wave is expected to have a field day for the next two days at least in the Telangana districts of Warangal and Karimnagar.

We advise all the readers to have sufficient fluids every day and to avoid going out in the hot afternoon sun unless it is necessary. Identify the dehydration and other sunstroke symptoms earlier to avoid a severe attack that may turn fatal.

(AW- Anil)