Schools shut after India records its hottest temperature

An Indian boy plays in the Sabarmati river to beat the heat on a hot summer day in Ahmadabad, India, Friday, May 20, 2016. The prolonged heat wave this year has already killed hundreds and destroyed crops in more than 13 states, impacting hundreds of millions of Indians. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) (The Associated Press)

prev next

Indian children play in the Sabarmati river to beat the heat on a hot summer day in Ahmadabad, India, Friday, May 20, 2016. The prolonged heat wave this year has already killed hundreds and destroyed crops in more than 13 states, impacting hundreds of millions of Indians. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) (The Associated Press)

A laborer covers himself with a cloth to protect from the sun as he pulls a rickshaw carrying wooden logs on a hot summer afternoon in Hyderabad, India, Friday, May 20, 2016. The prolonged heat wave this year has already killed hundreds and destroyed crops in more than 13 states. The extreme heat has impacted hundreds of millions in western India with record temperatures Friday reaching as high as a scorching 51 degrees Celsius (123.8 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.) (The Associated Press)

NEW DELHI – Authorities have shut schools, sprinkled water in streets and rushed a water train to a parched state in western India where scorching temperatures have reached up to 51 degrees Celsius (124 Fahrenheit).

Several hospitals in the desert state of Rajasthan have set aside beds to treat heatstroke patients. Television video Saturday showed patients being wheeled in on stretchers, with paramedics covering them with ice packs and pouring water on them.

J.P. Gupta, a meteorologist in Lucknow, the capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state, said the heat wave will remain intense until next week, when dust storms may bring relief from soaring temperatures.

The main summer months in India — April, May and June — are always excruciatingly hot across most of the country, before monsoon rains bring cooler temperatures.