Updated

A meteorologist says showers and thunderstorms have eased sizzling summer temperatures in southern India, where a weekslong heat wave has claimed nearly 2,000 lives.

Y.K. Reddy, an Indian Meteorological Department director, says the heat wave is expected to continue in parts of worst-hit Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states for another 24 hours.

Heat-related conditions, including dehydration and heat stroke, have killed at least 1,490 people in Andhra Pradesh and 489 in Telangana.

Daytime temperatures hovered between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius (104 and 113 degrees Fahrenheit) in the two states on Saturday, after soaring to as high as 48 C (118 F) earlier in the week.

People across India have been plunging into rivers, staying in the shade and drinking lots of water to try to beat the heat.