'Intense heat, boiling tap water, ACs not working': Delhiites call city 'unlivable' amid severe heatwave, flood X

Social media is flooded with complaints, with users emphasising how Delhi's extreme summers are compounded by harsh winters, pollution, and monsoon drainage issues. (Image: @AFP)

The severe heatwave, water shortage crisis with no rain in sight has made Delhi unlivable, according to several users on X. A number of Delhiites took to the microblogging site to share their frustration, fear and thoughts about life in the capital as a dangerous heatwave grips Northern India, especially Delhi and surrounding areas.

The city is enduring one of its hottest summers on record, with temperatures reaching a blistering 50 degrees Celsius. A post from Delhi-based entrepreneur Puneet Siinghal on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) highlighted the severity, describing the unbearable heat: “It's so hot right now, Just stepping outside for ten minutes feels unbearable. Tap water feels like it's boiling, and there's no relief from the heat. It's almost unlivable. Even a 15-minute walk outside is daunting. It's 41 degrees at 10 pm."

It's so hot right now, Just stepping outside for ten minutes feels unbearable.

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Tap water feels like it's boiling, and there's no relief from the heat. It's almost unlivable.

Even a 15-minute walk outside is daunting. It's 41 degrees at 10 pm.#heatwave #Delhi #India

— Puneet Siinghal (@puneetsinghal22) June 18, 2024

The intense heatwave has claimed at least five lives in New Delhi this week, according to the Times of India. The city's minimum nighttime temperature hit 33.8 degrees Celsius, the highest for June in six years. The heatwave is exacerbated by water shortages and record-high power consumption.

Delhi NCR has become really unlivable in the last few years.

Pollution ( AQI > 400), winters too cold, summers too hot (45 is average these days),water logging in rainy months.

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People who can afford it might prefer moving out in the next few years if it stays the same.

— Akash Mishra (@akash_mishra24) June 19, 2024

Social media is flooded with complaints, with users emphasising how Delhi's extreme summers are compounded by harsh winters, pollution, and monsoon drainage issues. Journalist Rituparna Chatterjee tweeted, "I don't think people elsewhere fully grasp what's happening in NCR and just how hot it is. At 7am, the tap water is boiling hot. The sun hurts the eye. There's no night time anymore. For 24 hours the temperature feels above 40C. Which means during night the water is as hot."

"The human body can't endure a heatwave this nonstop without respite. ACs running nonstop, but rooms are barely cool, house plants are dying - you have to water them with boiling hot water. Struggling to breathe in the thick scalding air," she added in her thread.

Echoing the sentiment, a number of people called it the hottest summer in living memory and even complained about air conditioners failing to work. "ACs running for the whole day and still the house, the floor, and the furniture are fuming. One cannot get through this without aid (staying at home, ACs, cold water etc). This is an absolute climate disaster," wrote Ekta Chauhan, an assistant professor.

ACs running for the whole day and still the house, the floor, and the furniture are fuming. One cannot get through this without aid (staying at home, ACs, cold water etc).
This is an absolute climate disaster. How are our policy makers not thinking about this

— Ekta Chauhan (@ekta2993) June 18, 2024

"Have spent almost all of my life in #Delhi and have never experienced such unbearable heat and weather. It is extremely hot even at 10 in the night and the water coming from the tap, is almost boiling hot," an aspiring author named Krishna Kant Sharma remarked.

Have spent almost all of my life in #Delhi and have never experienced such unbearable heat and weather.
It is extremely hot even at 10 in the night and the water coming from the tap, is almost boiling hot.#HeatWave #ClimateChange https://t.co/LHY5hfvCgK

— Krishna Kant Sharma (@krishnakant_75) June 18, 2024

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted that heatwave conditions will persist across many parts of North India, with some relief expected in under 48 hours.