With summer proving to be a scorcher, the temperature crossed 36 degrees Celsius in Tangla (Udalguri district in Assam) on Thursday leaving people totally “drained out” in this sweltering heat. People in the town and its surrounding areas remained indoors and streets were barren as the sun beat down hard.
As per AccuWeather, the Google weather app, the maximum temperature in Tangla on Wednesday stood at 38 degrees Celsius. The streets of Tangla wore a deserted look throughout the day on Thursday. Business establishments remained largely closed but fans, coolers and air-conditioners sold like hot cakes – retailers doing the business in the town.
Ice cream and sugarcane juice vendors did brisk business and even cold drinks flew off the shelves. With the humidity level being very high – between 55 per cent and 73 per cent – and frequent load shedding adding sting to the summer – the life of Tangla denizens has become “living hell” this summer.
Along with Tangla, rest of Assam is also under the grip of a severe heat wave with temperatures soaring to 39.8 degrees Celsius in Silchar in Barak Valley and 38.2 degrees Celsius in Lakhimpur in Brahmaputra Valley on Thursday, officials of the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) said in Guwahati on Thursday.
The Met office said Guwahati recorded a maximum temperature of 38 degrees Celsius, Dibrugarh 37.4, Tezpur 37, Jorhat 37.7 and the lowest temperature of the day was recorded at Dhubri in Lower Assam at 34.6 degrees Celsius. Even in Guwahati, the cash registers of ice cream vendors, sugarcane juice vendors and coconut (read dab narikol) water sellers were jingling with people queuing up before their carts to quench their parched throats.
Lack of rainfall in Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Silchar and North Lakhimpur in the past 24 hours has added to the discomfort level. A Met official stated, “The weather will remain dry for the next two days because of a depression in the Bay of Bengal. But, after two days, there will be normal rainfall across Assam.” However, the Met official made it clear that there is no warning of drought.