Stars

Shop with eco-friendly cleaning solutions!

Shop here

forward-icon-2

India's Kerala shuts schools, colleges amid sweltering heat

By Reuters

May 3, 2024 at 12:00:03 PM

FILE PHOTO: A staff member walks inside an empty classroom of a school in Kochi, India March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Sivaram V/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: A staff member walks inside an empty classroom of a school in Kochi, India March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Sivaram V/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Kerala state has closed all schools and colleges until Monday due to scorching temperatures, urging people in the coastal region to limit exposure to the sun and take care to prevent wildfires.

With most parts of India reeling from high temperatures, the weather department has forecast an unusually high number of heatwave days for April to June, as the country stages a general election that has seen a low voter turnout.

Heatwaves are rare in Kerala and data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows that the state recorded five heatwave days in April.

Referring to the current El Nino weather pattern, the IMD said on Wednesday that El Nino years typically have more heating, with hot and dry weather in Asia and heavier rains in parts of the Americas.

Fewer thunderstorms and an anti-cyclonic circulation near India's southeastern coast were causing heatwaves, the IMD said.

Kerala's state government on Thursday directed people to minimize exposure to the sun and urged authorities to monitor situations to avoid fires. With several districts issuing heatwave warnings, the government asked all educational institutions to be shut till Monday.

Heatwaves have forced school closures in parts of Asia and North Africa too, widening learning gaps between developing nations in the tropics and developed countries, experts told Reuters,

Local media reported that at least two people died earlier this week in Kerala, but authorities are yet to confirm if their death was due to extreme heat.

On Thursday, temperature in state capital Thiruvananthapuram touched 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) but the IMD said it felt like 46 (115) due to high humidity.

Soaring temperatures and dry spells have caused frequent forest fires in other parts of India, and the blazes have been worsened by people burning the forest to collect a flower used to brew alcohol in Odisha state.

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru and Tanvi Mehta in New Delhi, Editing by William Maclean)

Share News
Reuters
Reuters

News Agency

Reuters is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.

Related Products

Categories

Popular Articles

A father and son standing on a desolate, rocky landscape with a distant, hazy horizon.
Climate Fiction: The Genre For Our Time

Arts & Literature

Aug 17, 2024

Latest Infobites
5th
4th
3rd
2nd

Share your ideas

with others