Tirupati: Blistering heat continues to scare people

Tirupati: People of Tirupati were reeling under searing heat for the past few days. The blistering heat has been scaring them to come out of their homes most of the daytime especially between 10 am and 4 pm except venturing out to take part in the ongoing mega folk festival Gangamma Jatara.

Continuous spell of heat waves is forcing everyone to stay indoors making the roads deserted.

With the mercury crossing above 40 degrees Celsius continuously and even touching about 43 degrees on Monday, the people are having a tough time in attending to their daily chores. Even on Tuesday, the temperature is said to have crossed 42 degrees.

Except the streets surrounding Gangamma temple, where undeterred by the heat waves, heavy crowds have thronged the temple on the last day of the Jatara. The city wore a deserted look even on Tuesday.

Many important streets looked empty resembling the curfew-like situation, which would otherwise witness frequent traffic jams. The street vendors were the worst sufferers. They could not find the buyers but still had to sit in blistering heat. Those remaining indoors also were unable to find any respite from the humidity. Even the air-conditioners could not help in cooling the room temperatures.

Doctors have been advising the people to stay indoors as far as possible and if they need to go out, precautions must be taken to not to get exposed to the heat directly. People of any age groups should take plenty of fluids as they sweat more when the mercury rises which may cause dizziness, fatigue and nausea. Special care should be taken about children, senior citizens and pregnant women.

Going by the weather forecast, the same kind of heat waves may continue for the next 3-4 days which is scaring the people even more as they have to feel more suffocation due to radiation from the hills.