NEW DELHI — A city in western India has suffered through the country’s highest recorded temperature – a scorching 123.8 degrees Fahrenheit.

The record was set Thursday in the city of Phalodi, in the western state of Rajasthan. India’s meteorological department said the previous high was 123 F, reached in 1956 in the city of Alwar, also in Rajasthan.

People in New Delhi carry empty plastic water bottles as temperatures soar. A prolonged heat wave this year has already killed hundreds and destroyed crops in more than 13 states. The Associated Press

Authorities have issued a severe heat wave alert for the next two days in the western states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and parts of the central state of Madhya Pradesh. That means the areas can expect temperatures of 116.6 F or more.

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

The monsoon normally hits southern India in the first week of June and covers the rest of the nation within a month. It is especially eagerly awaited this year because several parts of the country are reeling under a drought brought on by two years of weak rains.

Clare Nullis, a spokeswoman for the World Meteorological Organization, told reporters in Geneva on Friday during a briefing on record global temperatures that meteorologists expect this year’s Indian monsoon will bring more rain than normal, which would be good news for the drought-stricken regions.

The prolonged heat wave this year has already killed hundreds and destroyed crops in more than 13 states, impacting hundreds of millions of Indians.

Hundreds of farmers are reported to have killed themselves across the country and tens of thousands of small farmers have been forced to abandon their farmland. .

In some areas, the situation is so bad the government has sent in water by train for emergency relief.

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