"The situation across India is devastating" - Extreme heatwave collapses power supply

Created: 04/30/2022, 07:09

By: Martina Lippl

Extreme heat wave: In India and Pakistan there are up to 46 degrees.

© WMO Screenshot

In India, temperatures have been rising unusually sharply for weeks.

The power supply breaks down in some parts.

experts warn.

Geneva/New Delhi – 43 degrees Celsius were measured in the Indian capital New Delhi on Friday.

Temperatures could exceed 50 degrees at the weekend, a spokeswoman for the World Weather Organization (WMO) said in Geneva on Friday.

An end to the extreme heat wave is not in sight until next week.

From May 2nd, the values ​​should slowly drop.

Until then it will be extremely hot.

The power supply in India and Pakistan is at its limit and has partially collapsed.

The power went out for hours in some cities.

In Pakistan, the authorities reported power outages of up to eight hours, as reported by the

afp

Source: India Meteorological Department

In the Indian capital New Delhi, authorities warned that they could only run many power plants for “less than a day”.

For days, the fire brigade has been fighting a fire at a landfill site.

Poisonous clouds of noise wafted over the city.

However, the fire was brought under control on Friday.

The fire brigade tried to smother the flames with sand and mud, apparently with success.

The cause of the fire is initially unclear.

There have already been four fires at a garbage dump in New Delhi in the past month.

Experts suspect unusually hot weather is fueling the decomposition of the garbage, releasing even more flammable methane gas than usual.

Extreme heat wave in India and Pakistan collapses electricity supply

"The situation across India is devastating," said Arvind Kejriwal of the regional government of the capital region.

He warned of the potentially dramatic effects of ongoing power outages in New Delhi's hospitals and subway.

Since March, the Indian capital has recorded record temperatures of up to 40.1 degrees.

It is particularly hot at the moment.

According to the World Weather Organization (WMO), it is the warmest March on record, with an average high temperature of 33.1, or 1.86 degrees above the long-term average.

Pakistan also recorded the warmest March in at least 60 years, with a number of stations breaking March records.

It is still difficult to say whether this heat wave is directly attributable to climate change, said the spokeswoman for the World Weather Organization WMO, according to the dpa news agency.

Unusual heat in India and Pakistan

In India, extreme weather events increased between 1951 and 2015, with an accelerating "warming trend" over the past 30 years from 1986 to 2015, according to a WMO release.

And: At this time of year it is hot in India and Pakistan.

“Excessively high temperatures are a regular occurrence in both India and Pakistan during the pre-monsoon season, particularly in May.

Heat waves occur in April but are less common.

Whether new national temperature records will be set is not yet foreseeable.

Turbat in Pakistan recorded the fourth highest temperature in the world at 53.7 °C on May 28, 2017.”

Heat wave in India: A man relaxes under a tree in unbearable temperatures.

© SANJAY KANOJIA/afp

Scientists attribute the increasing and more intense heat waves to climate change.

Such temperatures have never been seen in parts of the affected region at this time of year, climate researcher Erich Fischer from Zurich told the Swiss broadcaster SRF.

The heat wave is expected to break records.

Coupled with the high humidity, there were sometimes conditions in which people reached their adaptation limits, said Fischer.

It is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, home to around ten percent of the world's population.

People live close together, the air pollution is high, the nights are hot.

Many people would not have a chance to cool down.

If such heat waves last longer, people without refuge in air-conditioned rooms will soon be unable to live there.

"The world climate report published last year shows that events that we used to only expect every 50 years are now occurring five times more frequently," said Fischer.