At least 11 people died on Wednesday as a result of extreme weather conditions in India, as the country remains hit by a severe heat wave, landslides and flooding, officials and media said. Reuters.
The country's capital, New Delhi, was sweltering due to extreme heatwave conditions on what was recorded as the hottest night in six years on Tuesday.
According Indian Times, at least five deaths were recorded in the capital's hospitals as a result of heat stroke. Meanwhile, landslides and flooding triggered by continued rains in India's northeastern state of Assam claimed the lives of at least six people on Tuesday night, according to officials cited by Reuters.
“A landslide buried a woman and her three daughters alive,” a state disaster management official, Siju Das, said by telephone.
“Their house was on a slope and they died on the spot around midnight,” he said, adding that the bodies were recovered after a three-hour search operation by rescue teams.
“They also killed a three-year-old child.”
Billions across Asia are dealing with extreme heat this summer, in a trend that scientists say has been worsened by human-driven climate change.
Since March, temperatures have soared to 50 degrees C (122 degrees F) in Delhi and the nearby desert state of Rajasthan, while this season saw more than double the usual number of heat wave days in the northwest and the East of the country.
These conditions were due to fewer storms, as well as warm winds blowing from neighboring arid regions.
In Assam, more than 160,000 people were affected and waters exceeded the danger level in the Kopili, one of the largest tributaries of the Brahmaputra, which is among the largest rivers in India.
More than 30 people in the state have died since late May in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain, officials said.
— Additional contribution from Reuters
