After a brief respite from the heat wave condition, the mercury level shot up in the coastal districts even as the western part of Odisha continued to record temperature above 40 degrees Celsius.
Bolangir was the hottest place in the state with maximum temperature of 43.5 degrees Celsius followed by 43.2 degrees Celsius at Bhawanipatna and 43 at Titlagarh, MeT office sources said adding that 11 places across the state recorded temperature above 40 degrees Celsius.
The other places which were baking under the heat were: Sonepur (42), Sambalpur (41.8), Sundergarh (41.5) and Hirakud (41.1), Jharsuguda (40.8) and Angul (40.1).
The state capital of Bhubaneswar which recorded a maximum temperature of 39.8 degrees Celsius yesterday, today sizzled at 41.2 degrees Celsius accompanied by relative humidity of 75 per cent.
Though the official sunstroke death toll remained static at 17, the number of suspected heat-related deaths increased to 179 today from yesterday's 175, the Special Relief Commissioner's (SRC) office said.
The IMD said in a communique, "The latest doppler weather radar and satellite imageries indicate that thundersquall accompanied with hail and gusty surface wind speed reaching 60 kmph likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Keonjhar, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Maurbhanj, Balasore and Bhadrak.
