Power outages surged as a mild to moderate heatwave swept Bangladesh on Monday, the first working day following six days of Eid holidays since April 9.
The entire country of Bangladesh was in the grip of a mild to moderate heatwave, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department said, predicting the continuation of the hot weather condition through April 20 and further worsening thereafter.
The ominous forecast of about two weeks of continuous heatwave came when the maximum day temperature exceeded 40C in Barishal鈥檚 Khepupara on Monday.
This was the third consecutive day Bangladesh saw its day temperature exceed 40C in one place or another. Rangamati saw its day temperature stay at 40C on April 13 and 14.
鈥楨xcept for some pockets, almost the entire Bangladesh is set to suffer scorching heat for a while,鈥� said meteorologist Muhammad Abul Kalam Mallik.
鈥楾he intensity of the heatwave might increase after April 20,鈥� he said.
Daily life is expected to return to normal by this week, with millions of people returning to their workplaces, mainly in the capital Dhaka, after the Eid holidays, potentially sending power demand soaring.
The power demand remained between 11,000MW and 8,000MW during the Eid holidays. The Eid holidays were rather comfortable with low temperatures and no power cuts.
But power demand has begun crossing 12,000MW since April 13. On Monday, the highest load-shedding of 305MW was recorded at 10:00am.
Different parts of the capital suffered power outages more than once on Monday.
Bangladesh鈥檚 current installed power generation capacity is nearly 27,000MW. The fuel shortage owed to the dollar crisis keeps many power plants unused.
The latest spell of heatwave began on April 11. The previous heatwave that started on March 31 was rather weak and continued until a spell of nor鈥檞ester swept Bangladesh seven days ago.
Different weather models predicted that the daytime temperature might reach 40C and even more in the capital this week.
On April 30, 1960, Dhaka saw its daytime temperature reach 42.3C. On April 16, last year, Dhaka鈥檚 daytime temperature reached 40.6. On Monday, Dhaka鈥檚 maximum daytime temperature was recorded to be 37.6C.
The prospect of continued hot days worries policymakers in Rajshahi, reported 抖阴精品鈥檚 Staff Correspondent in Rajshahi.
Power distributors in Rajshahi sat together on Monday to assess the situation at hand. Rajshahi is聽 one of Bangladesh鈥檚 main rice growers. The cultivation of boro is feared to be disrupted if irrigation is not properly ensured because of a lack of power supply.
The discussants demanded uninterrupted power supply between 11:00am and 7:00am for irrigation, even if it meant depriving people living in cities and towns of power.
Palli Bidyut Samity in Rajshahi needed 581MW for irrigation and received only 388MW. Another 400MW supply deficit exists in the commercial and residential sectors.
The BMD has advised people to wear cotton dresses and avoid outdoor activity between 12:00pm and 4:00pm.
People have also been advised to stay hydrated and live in places with proper ventilation.
