A record heat wave has hit India and Pakistan, causing power cuts and water shortages for millions of people who are expected to experience this furnace with increasing frequency in the future, according to climate change experts.
The 46° reached
The temperature in Delhi was approaching 46 degrees Celsius on Thursday.
And this extreme heat wave is expected to rage for another five days in northwest and central India and until the end of the week in the east, according to the Indian meteorological department.
"It's the first time I've seen such heat in April," exclaimed Dara Singh, 65, who has run a small street shop in Delhi since 1978. "The betel leaves I use to sell the paan (chewing tobacco, editor's note) spoil more quickly than usual.
Usually this happens around May, at the peak of summer”.
A drop in the water supply
India's northwestern Rajasthan, western Gujarat and southern Andhra Pradesh have imposed power cuts on factories to reduce consumption.
According to press reports, major power plants are facing coal shortages.
Several regions in the country of 1.4 billion people were reporting a drop in water supply that will only get worse until the annual monsoon rains in June and July.
In March, Delhi experienced a high of 40.1 degrees, the hottest temperature on record for that month since 1946.
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