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Weekslong summer heat wave eases in southern India after killing nearly 2,000 people

Associated Press
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Indian men covers their face with a scarf to protect themselves from the heat on a hot summer day in Ahmadabad, India, Friday, May 29, 2015. Dizzying temperatures caused water shortages in thousands of Indian villages and killed hundreds more people over the past day, driving the death toll from a weeks long heat wave to more than 1,000, officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) (The Associated Press)

An Indian man catches a nap in between work as he sits in front of an idol of elephant headed Hindu God Ganesha in Ahmadabad, India, Friday, May 29, 2015. Dizzying temperatures caused water shortages in thousands of Indian villages and killed hundreds more people over the past day, driving the death toll from a weeks long heat wave to more than 1,000, officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) (The Associated Press)

An Indian villager throws his fishing net in the Daya River to catch fish on a hot summer day on the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar, India, Friday, May 29, 2015. Dizzying temperatures caused water shortages in thousands of Indian villages and killed hundreds more people over the past day, driving the death toll from a weeks long heat wave to more than 1,000, officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Biswaranjan Rout) (The Associated Press)

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.