--- title: India Heatwave: Death Toll Rises, Drought Worsens description: Hundreds have now died from heatstroke across the country, with the traditionally hottest months of May and June yet to come canonical: https://time.com/4312086/india-heatwave-drought-death-orissa-telangana/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-29T09:04:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:08:11.113Z article:section: World og:title: Indian Heat Wave Claims More Lives as Drought Worsens og:description: The traditionally hottest months of May and June are yet to come og:url: https://time.com/4312086/india-heatwave-drought-death-orissa-telangana/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e2fb8675755ef0c/6988912af887dcec01e95a78/gettyimages-523430954.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Heat Wave in Eastern India og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Indian Heat Wave Claims More Lives as Drought Worsens twitter:description: The traditionally hottest months of May and June are yet to come twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e2fb8675755ef0c/6988912af887dcec01e95a78/gettyimages-523430954.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Indian Heat Wave Claims More Lives as Drought Worsens by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Apr 29, 2016 9:04 AM CUT  A village boy baths in the remaining water of a dried pond to beat the heat in the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar on April 23, 2016 A village boy baths in the remaining water of a dried pond to beat the heat in the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar on April 23, 2016Biswaranjan Rout—NurPhoto/Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Apr 29, 2016 9:04 AM CUT A heat wave sweeping several parts of India has taken [more lives](http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/heat-claims-16-more-lives-in-telangana-odisha-2775103/ "undefined"), with 16 deaths due to sunstroke recorded across two states on Thursday. So far, nine people have died in the eastern state of Orissa, while the heat wave claimed 15 more victims in the southern state of Telangana this week, the _Indian Express_ reports. In the latter, the total death toll now stands at 137. Several states in various parts of the subcontinent recorded temperatures well in excess of 40°C (104°F), with two towns in Orissa reportedly the highest at 45.4°C (113.2°F). The heat wave has further exacerbated a crippling [drought](http://time.com/4309156/india-maharashtra-drought-water/ "undefined") — the worst in at least four decades — in the country’s West, destroying crops and killing livestock that the state’s sizable agrarian community is almost completely dependent on. Temperatures are already far higher than they were the same time last year, [according](http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/04/28/heat-wave-worsens-drought-in-western-ind?videoId=368295021 "undefined") to Reuters, with the traditionally hottest months of May and June yet to come. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4312086/india-heatwave-drought-death-orissa-telangana/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4312086/india-heatwave-drought-death-orissa-telangana/"},"headline":"Indian Heat Wave Claims More Lives as Drought Worsens","datePublished":"2016-04-29T09:04:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:08:11.113Z","description":"The traditionally hottest months of May and June are yet to come","url":"https://time.com/4312086/india-heatwave-drought-death-orissa-telangana/","keywords":["India","Heatwave","Drought","States","heat"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e2fb8675755ef0c/6988912af887dcec01e95a78/gettyimages-523430954.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e2fb8675755ef0c/6988912af887dcec01e95a78/gettyimages-523430954.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Heat Wave in Eastern India","caption":"Heat Wave in Eastern India","creditText":"Biswaranjan Rout—NurPhoto/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4312086/india-heatwave-drought-death-orissa-telangana/","name":"Indian Heat Wave Claims More Lives as Drought Worsens"}}]}] ```