Intense heat broils large swathes of India, IMD says no relief for next 5 days

India saw its warmest March since the IMD began keeping records 122 years ago

The blistering heatwave sweeping through vast swathes of the country intensified on Thursday with the mercury crossing the 45-degree mark at several places.

Gurugram logged an all-time high of 45.6 degrees Celsius, breaking the previous record of 44.8 degrees Celsius on April 28, 1979.

Its neighbour Delhi saw the hottest April day in 12 years at 43.5 degrees Celsius. The national capital recorded a maximum temperature of 43.7 degrees Celsius on April 18, 2010.

The intense heatwave scorched Allahabad (45.9 degrees Celsius) in Uttar Pradesh; Khajuraho (45.6 degrees Celsius), Nowgong (45.6 degrees Celsius), and Khargone (45.2 degrees Celsius) in Madhya Pradesh; Akola (45.4 degrees Celsius), Bramhapuri (45.2 degrees Celsius) and Jalgaon (45.6 degrees Celsius) in Maharashtra and Jharkhand's Daltonganj (45.8 degrees Celsius).

Amid the heatwave, India's peak power demand met or the highest supply in a day touched the all-time high of 204.65 GW on Thursday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the spell of heatwave will persist over northwest and central India for the next five days and over east India for the next three days.

"A rise of about two degrees Celsius in the maximum temperature (is) very likely over most parts of northwest India during the next two days," it said.