PESHAWAR: Heat wave affected routine life in several areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as mercury touched 46.5 degree Celsius in Dera Ismail Khan district of the province on Wednesday.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Shah, the director of Regional Meteorological Centre Peshawar, said that the dry and hot spell would continue till Sunday next.

He said that the current heat wave in the province was not unusual and weather pattern might change after Sunday.

`This is normal phenomenon in May and people should not worry about it, he told Dawn.

According to Met office, southern district of Dera Ismail Khan remained the hottest in the province on Wednesday and maximum temperature there was 46.5 degree Celsius followed by Kohat with 44 degree Celsius.

Severe heat wave has been backing Dera Ismail Khan since Tuesday where temperature soared to 44 degree Celsius.

The situation was further exacerbated by frequent power loadshedding in the city and surrounding areas.

Electricity supply to Dera city from Kot Addu power station was suspended as a result consumers experienced more than four hours outages at a stretch while situation in rural areas of the district was the worst.

The roads released extreme heat during the day which was unbearable, said a resident.

The residents of Peshawar also experienced hottest day of the season and mercury rose to 43 degree Celsius. Hot winds continued blowing throughout the day in Peshawar as level of humidity in the air was 25 per cent. Dry and hot spell affected routine life in the city.

Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) had issued a weather advisory about very hot and dry weather and put all deputy commissioners in the province on alert.

Like plain areas, heat wave also gripped hill stations like Abbottabad, Cherat and other high altitude areas of the province. The Met office said that mercury soared to 35 degree Celsius in Abbottabad Town and 33 degree centigrade in Cherat. Temperature in Lower Dir district was 41 degree centigrade, 35 degree in Chitral and 38 degree in Saidu Sharif (Swat).

Mushtaq Ahmad Jan, director for Disaster Preparedness and Management, University of Peshawar, said that severe heat wave in plain and high altitude areas could intensify snow melting that would increase water level in the rivers.

Rising water level in river would create trouble for downstream communities, he said. He added that hot spell in mountainous areas could also cause Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) phenomenon, which was more dangerous for the local communities.