India Heat Wave Breaks Records, Causes Blackouts and Riots

Angry Indians continue to riot as brutal heat bakes much of northern India, forcing government officials to cut electricity in some places as the power grid becomes strained beyond its capacity.

In New Dehli, widespread blackouts have become a life-threatening concern in the city of 22 million, reports Think Progress. The city is no stranger to sudden power cuts, but with worries about the stressed power grid, electricity has been cut in shopping malls and street lights, leading to deserted streets and shops.

A recent thunderstorm damaged transmission lines, adding to the area's issues, according to Channel News Asia. After days of sweltering heat, residents in northeastern New Delhi went into the streets and damaged cars late Tuesday night.

Weather Underground's Christopher Burt said New Delhi's Palam Airport hit 118 degrees on Sunday – the second-hottest temperature ever measured at that site and a daily record. Some relief is expected in the coming days, but temperatures are not expected to retreat below 100 degrees in New Delhi.

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The anger has persisted for nearly a week. Thousands of people stormed an electricity substation Friday near the state capital of Lucknow, ransacking offices and taking several workers hostage for 18 hours until police intervened Saturday morning, state utility official Narendra Nath Mullick said.

Elsewhere, an angry crowd set fire to an electricity substation in Gonda, 112 miles southeast of Lucknow. It took three hours for firefighters to put out the flames on Friday. Another substation was set on fire in Gorakhpur, 200 miles southeast of Lucknow.

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Power was largely restored to most areas by Saturday afternoon, leading dozens of people who were still protesting outside Lucknow's Indira Nagar substation to go home.

Residents had been particularly angry about the power cuts after receiving reliable supplies through the Indian elections, which ended May 16. Since then, only some regions have been guaranteed unbroken power supplies, while others have received little to none.

The High Court in the city of Allahabad is now hearing a petition alleging discrimination in power distribution, and has asked the government to explain why some regions allegedly were receiving preferential treatment. Those regions include the city of Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as constituencies held by Yadav and other top officials in Uttar Pradesh's ruling party.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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