Large parts of northern and central India are bracing for more days of brutal heat, with temperatures forecast to hit 50° Celsius (122° Fahrenheit) later in the week. That’s hotter even than the searing 43°C heat on Thursday that scorched the capital city of New Delhi.
Shyam Mahato, a teacher, struggled to keep students safe and hydrated from the school’s single tap. “Heat is getting worse much earlier,” says Mahato, whose classroom is an exposed space underneath a bridge without air conditioning or even a fan.
No one in the city was untouched by the threat of last Thursday’s blazing temperatures. A Bloomberg Green reporter spent hours out on the streets to witness what has become an almost constant daily struggle to endure this long-running wave of severe heat. Aside from brief days of respite, extreme heat has afflicted a region with more than 1 billion people since March. That’s when temperatures in India broke a 122-year record. Neighboring Pakistan has already experienced 50°C.
