Bhubaneswar: With nearly four heat waves sweeping Odisha till date in 2019, when nearly a month of the summer season is still left, the shocker is in the last decade number of heat waves engulfed the State had risen by a whopping 450 per cent!
The number of heat waves swept across the State in 1970-79 were mere 2, which means the State witnessed heat wave twice during the decade. The number then had risen to 7 and 9 during the two successive decades of 1980-89 and 1990-99. In fact, coastal Odisha’s first brush with heat wave was in 1998, when nearly 200 people succumbed to intense heat wave that enveloped the entire coastal belt for the first time in State’s history.
Post the 1998 intense heat wave, came the 1999 super cyclone. In fact, year 1999 saw two cyclones hitting Odisha in a span of mere 15-days. Since then Odisha has been in the epicentre of ‘extreme’ natural events.
Post the 1999 super cyclone, the number of heat waves gripped the State zoomed by a whopping 343 per cent. The decade of 2000-09 saw around 31 heat waves from mere 7 in the earlier decade. Significantly, the State breathed easy for three year period of 2010-2013, when Odisha on an average witnessed mere 2 heat waves per year.
However, as the State bore the brunt of extremely severe cyclone Phailin in 2013, the year 2014 again witnessed intense heat wave. As many 10 heat waves gripped the State in 2014. The following year, means 2015, Odisha witnessed one of its worst drought. But the State witnessed three heat waves. The year 2016 saw mere 2 heat waves.