The searing heat wave in Orissa's Sundergarh district has claimed 14 lives in five days with no sign of the mercury coming down from the 46 degrees celsius.
Last Thursday as many as eight sunstroke deaths were reported in the district, while four persons died on Monday.
Normal life has been severely hit in the steel city of Rourkela and elsewhere in the district.
The weather office said the minimum temperature hovered between 30 and 32 degrees celsius while the humidity count was more than 80 per cent.
Power cuts for long stretches are only adding to the woes of the residents who are having to do with an acute shortage of drinking water as rivers, ponds and wells have gone dry.
The condition in the rural pockets of the district is even more miserable with the mushroom growth of sponge iron units which have added to the heat.