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Heat Wave Kills More Than 1,100 In India 155

Posted by Soulskill from the rest-in-peace dept.
An anonymous reader sends word that a week-long heat wave in India has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,100 people. Temperatures reached 47C (117F) on Monday and are expected to stay dangerously high throughout the week. The heat and extreme dryness are being accompanied by strong westerly winds. "About one-third of the country's 1.2 billion people have access to electricity, meaning millions are enduring the blistering heat without relief." The local power grid has been struggling under high demand from fans and air conditioning. In some states, citizens are being advised to stay indoors during the middle of the day, when the sun is at its peak. Many hope the upcoming monsoons will return temperatues to less dangerous levels.
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Heat Wave Kills More Than 1,100 In India More

Heat Wave Kills More Than 1,100 In India

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  • Dry Heat (Score:1, Troll)

    by paulej72 ( 1177113 )
    Well at least it is a dry heat.

    • Re:Dry Heat (Score:5, Interesting)

      by rsmith-mac ( 639075 ) on Wednesday May 27, 2015 @11:31AM (#49782875)

      Well at least it is a dry heat.

      Actually it's not, that's the problem. The humidity is around 30% during the day [cnn.com], which may not sound like a lot, but at 47C that's a heat index of over 55C! That's well into the extreme danger zone [wikipedia.org], you will get heat stroke extremely easy, even without being in the sun. And then of course the humidity will jump up during the night, so it may only be 30C outside, but the heat index is still in the 40s.

      This weather is a very nasty combination of heat and humidity. You're basically looking at a sauna at times. Which is all well and good when you can leave the sauna, but even in the best of health the human body struggles to deal with these kinds of heat indexes over an extended period of time.

      • Air conditioners (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Did they try calling tech support for their air conditioners? 104 seems high.

      • Holy shit you're right.
        30% at 47C is about 25g of water for 1kg of dry air, which is equivalent to 3 imperial shit-tons of moisture.

      • I'm still not sure what the big deal is. The description sounds like a typical summer afternoon here in Phoenix. I don't mind riding my bike for a few hours at a time in direct sunlight when its 115F and in the middle of the afternoon. The hottest it has gotten here was I believe 123F, which was some time during the 90's.

        Our average daily humidity is about 37%, though it runs about 10% in the afternoon most of the time, I can recall at least a few times where it was 35% humidity at 110F in the afternoon, an

        • In Phoenix when it is hot the RH is rarely much above 20%, at which levels the impact on human body is neutral. 110F @ 30% RH means it "feels" like 122, and I have heard of India having much higher RH than even that. 35% feels like 129F and it gets seriously crazy above that.

          You don't know what the big deal is because you've probably never experienced humid heat. 90F is extremely dangerous at 100%RH and people die from it all the time.
          • 30% is low. Back in the 70s in I'll, I would work in temps of 105 with 60-90% humidity. That was humid. And yes, it sux.
            In addition, in the winter, it hit -40f. Most of the time, we would have -30 through -35 for 2-3 weeks at a time.
            But I was acclimated to it.

            After 3 years of moving to Colorado, I went to visit a friend in IL, in the middle of winter when temps were -20 to -25f. I wore the same clothes that I used to ( good down jacket, etc.). AND like always, never a hat. I walked for 20 mins in th
            • Yikes, frostbite is awful. I hope you don't have pain from it! I'm a big fan of dry weather. Colorado's climate is so easy for me - the cold isn't as bad as humid sea level cold and the heat isn't as bad as humid sea level heat. I think the thinner air and generally low humidity make everything easier to take.

        • I lived in Phoenix for over thirty years. Everybody there has refrigeration, and in June when the temperature hits 50C, about the maximum, the humidity is below 10%. By mid-July is gets more humid as the weather pattern shifts from the dry westerlies to Gulf air from the southeast, but the temperature plummets to 40C and the humidity never goes over about 30%, with clouds and thunder (not always rain) every afternoon.

          Now imagine the temperature at 50C with 60% humidity, and no A/C. And it's not monsoon yet,

        • You don't mind it because you go from air conditioned building to air conditioned building. Spending a couple of hours in heat like that isn't a big deal, but living with it 24 hours a day will run you down in a hurry.

          • Actually to be honest, this entire year I've had my AC off during the day. I only turn it on at night because I'm one of those people who feel hot when they sleep, even when it isn't hot in the room. (Which is an annoying problem to have by the way, I've lost so much good quality sleep time over it.)

        • The body is inefficient at dealing with heat very young or old.

    • Re:Dry Heat (Score:5, Funny)

      by Guy From V ( 1453391 ) on Wednesday May 27, 2015 @11:32AM (#49782887) Homepage

      Knock it off, Hudson.

  • "Many hope the upcoming monsoons will return temperatues to less dangerous levels. "

    Right, not like the monsoons won't kill anyone and cause problems of their own....

    Be careful what you wish for....

    • You know you live in the wrong place when you're looking forward to one horrific weather pattern to replace another.

      • Re:Sure... (Score:5, Informative)

        by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Wednesday May 27, 2015 @11:29AM (#49782851)

        You know you live in the wrong place when you're looking forward to one horrific weather pattern to replace another.

        The monsoons are not horrific. They are a normal part of the annual weather cycle. Complaining about monsoons in India is as silly as complaining about snow in Minnesota. Far more horrific, is when the monsoons are weak, which has historically led to famine.

        • Until the flooding and resulting deaths....

          • Every year there is flodding. Every year people are confused over the fact they got houses in a flood area?
            Not really.
            They choose to love where the flood comes
            They should accept it? Right?
            To some extent.
            I know that work and social life is limited to where those are. So I know a lot of people moved somewhere for one of those 2, they didn't choose to live in a flooded area.
            Still doesn't change the fact they could have moved uphill.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by radl33t ( 900691 )
            I think you confused India for Texas

            • Any kind of rainy season has the potential, same for India. We always hear on the news of this sort of thing.

        • Hurricanes are a normal part of the weather cycle in Florida, but that doesn't stop me from having the opinion that Florida is the wrong place to live.

          • Hurricanes are a normal part of the weather cycle in Florida

            Florida hurricanes are not a regular annual event like the monsoons are in India. They don't come every year, and when they do, they are somewhat localized.

            but that doesn't stop me from having the opinion that Florida is the wrong place to live.

            Florida is the wrong place to live, but the hurricanes are only a minor part of that.

      • Yeah? So explain all those people in the central US who live in tornado-prone areas. Or people who are in the path of hurricanes. Or on flood plains.

        People don't get a choice about where they are born.

        And if you're sufficiently poor, you might not have the option to fix it.

        • Yep, exactly. Living in a "tornado-prone" area describes a very large section of the US midwest and south. Hurricane prone region describes the entire south-east US coastline. Tsunamis or monsoons are a danger to anyone living near the coast of the Pacific or Indian Oceans. Flood plains are among the most fertile ground on the planet, so you're at least going to see farming communities living there. Oh, and don't live anywhere near a major fault line!

          If you start looking for "completely safe" areas, you

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by rtb61 ( 674572 )

            Well, you are not looking for completely safe, you are looking for relatively safe. Let's be honest, it is completely naively nuts not to consider environmental and social safety when it comes to locating your family. So avoid high risk locations is simply makes sense because if you don't then one day, inevitably it places the whole of your family at that location of losing everything they have including their lives. So yeah, live in a high risk zone, move, it is the sensible thing to do, seriously what is

      • Normally, that is called Texas.
    • I always thought the Kwik-E-Mart was air conditioned!!

      :)

  • Drag them down (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Comparison to India's military and space spending starting in 3 .. 2.. 1..

  • Slashdot-specific:
    Heat Wave in India kills 9,1666666666666666666666666666667e-5% of its population.

    • Slashdotness (Score:5, Funny)

      by Daetrin ( 576516 ) on Wednesday May 27, 2015 @11:38AM (#49782929)
      Minus: You failed to use an obscure unit of measurement. I propose Congresses. This heat wave has killed 2.056 Congresses of people.

      Plus: You used a decimal comma instead of a decimal point, allowing people to respond saying that you're adhering to a regionally specific custom that differs from their own regionally specific custom, and therefore are clearly doing it wrong.

      Overall i rate your slashdotness at 77.3%, by means of an obscure personal rating system which i can't describe succinctly but will argue about endlessly if anyone disagrees with my conclusion.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by asylumx ( 881307 )
        Clearly your unfair rating system rounds down, this score should have been 77.34%. Quite selling people short!

      • I'm not a fan of this 'cogresses' ratings for death counts. It immediately evokes the exact opposite reaction that I would normally receive by death counts.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )

      Slashdot-specific:
      Heat Wave in India kills 9,1666666666666666666666666666667e-5% of its population.

      Nerd fail, invalid use of significant digits ;). Though I was thinking the same thing, one in a million doesn't seem very significant. It's like 5 people dying in my country of 5 million, that's one bad car crash not exactly dropping like flies.

      • I'm Romanian, you inconsiderate clod!
        This means I'm nerdier than you'd think, because I adhere to my country's decimal rules. Ta-daa!

  • trees cut down in the cities (Score:5, Interesting)

    by lkcl ( 517947 ) <lkcl@lkcl.net> on Wednesday May 27, 2015 @11:28AM (#49782843) Homepage

    i visited bangalore in 2006, to see a friend living there. he explained that when the trees were cut down in the cities (so that more housing could be built), temperatures soared by an additional 10 *centigrade*. so, the ambient temperature surrounding the cities would be 45 degrees, but in bangalore it would reach *fifty five* centigrade. the point of mentioning this is that it's a much more direct version of how man has an effect on his immediate environment. change the landscape, you change the weather, it's as simple as that. we can learn from that... or simply die. it's our choice.

    • That's why the temperature record in India is only 50C, and it is not even in Bengalore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L... [wikipedia.org]

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Bengaluru is a relatively cool spot, although its ambient temperature has gone up over the years.

      The numbers you quoted are B.S. People will die en-masse at that temperature. I wont bother providing data to refute your numbers.

      The regions affected are about 500+KM away in a different state and are seeing temperatures of >47c in shade. These are arid regions and dont have lot of tree cover to begin with. They are semi-industrialized or agricultural due to the weather patterns.

    • The temperature record in Bengalore is only 39C http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B... [wikipedia.org]

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Don't let facts get in the way of a good story. Meanwhile the OP will be marked +5 Insightful even though it is complete bollocks.

    • While the urban heat island affect is well known, and Bangalore would certainly be affected, it's not anything like 10 degrees celsius (the way you write '10 centrigrade' suggests you're used to thinking in Fahrenheit).

      Bangalore does not reach 45 degrees. Ever. The average summer maximums are ten degrees below that, which for India makes it pretty much like heaven. It is the ONLY major city in India that does not have an awful climate, which is one of the major reasons it became an IT hub.

      Summers in India a

  • During major U.S. heat waves we typically get a similar number of deaths, and that's with about 1/3 the population. There are quite a few places in the world that get worse heat without heat waves. The worst two I've visited were Kuwait and Qatar, both read 140F/60C on thermometers in the shade (placement/calibration technically didn't meet weather station standards, so no "world record", but that is still the temperature people were subjected to). Qatar was worse though, the humidity was borderline condens

    • During major U.S. heat waves we typically get a similar number of deaths, and that's with about 1/3 the population. There are quite a few places in the world that get worse heat without heat waves. The worst two I've visited were Kuwait and Qatar, both read 140F/60C on thermometers in the shade (placement/calibration technically didn't meet weather station standards, so no "world record", but that is still the temperature people were subjected to). Qatar was worse though, the humidity was borderline condensing (some surfaces were damp with not a cloud in the sky); I'm glad I didn't have to stay there any longer than one day!

      WOW 140 in the shade, how in the world did the locals deal with such extremes?.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sycodon ( 149926 )

        Air Conditioning. Kuwait and Qatar are filthy rich.

        • Air Conditioning. Kuwait and Qatar are filthy rich.

          But unfortunately India is not, not at least the common folks.

      • In Qatar, substantially by letting impoverished migrant laborers handle the outdoor stuff, under more and less voluntary conditions, and air conditioning.

      • They don't. The temperature record is Qatar and Kuwait is about 53C. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L... [wikipedia.org]

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by ebh ( 116526 )

          True, but those are the only places I know of where it can literally be "95 degrees with 95 percent humidity", i.e. *dewpoints* over 90F. It has to do with the high temperature of the surrounding seawater.

        • They don't. The temperature record is Qatar and Kuwait is about 53C. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L... [wikipedia.org]

          Official measurements don't get taken at or near surfaces of concrete, asphalt, tarmac, or compacted sand (that's why I mentioned the caveat about placement and calibration of the thermometers). My buddies and I were stuck working (albeit very slowly, for very short periods) in those conditions. I was just glad I didn't have to wear combat gear at the time.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cdrudge ( 68377 )

        The worst two I've visited were Kuwait and Qatar, both read 140F/60C on thermometers in the shadeThat's one of the numerous reasons people questioned how the hell Qatar won hosting the 2022 World Cup. It's expected that nearly 4000 workers will die just in building the necessary stadiums and related infrastructure necessary to host the games.

    • 60C is probably bullshit. Even 53 is considered high: http://www.habibtoumi.com/2010... [habibtoumi.com]

    • It is a tragedy when people die but I'm not even sure why this is international news. The number sounds bad to be sure but as a percentage of the population and comparing that percentage to the typical number of deaths in other countries during heat waves as you said... this is a low number

    • Re:Unfortunate, but could be worse... (Score:5, Informative)

      by mjm1231 ( 751545 ) on Wednesday May 27, 2015 @02:52PM (#49784939)

      Um, no.
      For the period 1999-2003, the average # of US deaths due to heat was 688 per year, which is not at all similar to 1100 per week.

      Once again, posting false information on Slashdot proves to be no impediment to being modded +5 informative.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Not every week 1100 people die of heat in India and not everyday the same number of people died in USA between 1999-2003. So you are distorting the statistics by counting average of one with peak of another. Someday you will be drawn in a lake with average depth of 3 feet.

  • Heat waves have been killing hundreds to thousands annually [ernet.in] in India for the last 3 decades - and most likely much longer (but reporting simply wasn't well done much further in the past). This isn't anything new, other than we finally hear about it. Living in extreme conditions, with poor sanitation and polluted and minimal water will kill.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by snsh ( 968808 )

      And 45C is not extreme for Delhi. It's like reaching 98F in New York City. It's hotter than usual, but you can expect it to happen once a year.

      • Precisely. This is much ado about nothing. Not to minimize the deaths, but this happens quite often and isn't anything unusual. Europe's had more deaths from heat in the past...

  • No Wonder (Score:1, Insightful)

    by dcw3 ( 649211 )

    No wonder nobody is answering the phone at customer service.

    In all seriousness, this is a shame, but why the fuck is it on Slashdot?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by pr0nbot ( 313417 )

      Because only we can work out how Android fragmentation is the cause.

    • I told myself the same thing when I read the title. I was expecting it to mention some life changing technology such as evap coolers (which don't work in high humidity and aren't that new by any means). Then it would have made sense.

    • And the numbers don't seem particularly significant either. 1,100 people out of 1.2 billion, when 2/3 of those people don't have access to electricity and therefore air conditioning?

      If anything, the news story should be, "Holy crap, there's a serious heat wave and only this many people died. That's amazing, how does this population manage to deal with this kind of weather so well?"

      Me, anything over 70F is too hot. 117F? That's insanity. I'm glad I'm here and not there.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by dcw3 ( 649211 )

        A/C is overrated. You can adapt to warmer or colder climates to a certain degree (pun intended). I'm 56 yrs old and went running in 103F just a year ago...well hydrated, and monitoring my HR.

  • citizens are being advised to stay indoors

    I thought only mad dogs and Englishmen went out in the mid day sun [youtube.com]?

    • What if your job, and having food on the table that day, requires being out in the mid day sun?

      Take the numbers on het wave related deaths with a pinch of salt - it's some crappy statistic cooked up by a bored government official, perhaps based on dubious second hand reports (at best, could also be completely made up). Not saying the number is too high. Or too low. Could be either. But when the number of deaths you can report in India correlates with the number of clicks you get on your 'news' website, you

  • "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday son."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M... [wikipedia.org]

    I thought everyone knew that? Kipling certainly did. (I think, but am not sure, that Coward stole it from him.)

    https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/q... [yahoo.com]

    So the solutions might include (1) Plant more trees, and (2) Bring Broadway to Bangladesh.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Toad-san ( 64810 )

      Sorry, change Bangladesh to Bangalore .. or just "cities in India". I don't imagine things are too pleasant in Bangladesh either.

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