The heat wave plaguing Andhra Pradesh for the past few days on Monday showed signs of receding with the mercury dropping by 4-8 degree Celsius even as Hyderabad and a few other places received their first pre-monsoon showers.

However, the death toll in the heat wave that battered Andhra Pradesh for 25 days has gone up to 1,401 with fresh deaths reported from three districts.

An official at the State Relief Commissioner's office told rediff.com that of the 84 deaths reported since Saturday evening, Prakasam district accounted for 40 and Adilabad and Warangal for 22 each.

In Hyderabad, where the temperature dropped to 39.1 degrees Celsius following the peak of 44 degree Celsius on June one, the afternoon witnessed a brief drizzle in several parts of the city, bringing much-needed relief to the residents.

"It was only a pre-monsoon shower," Hyderabad Meteorological Centre Director C V V Bhadram told rediff.com in the evening.

Some places in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema also experienced slight rains or thundershowers in the last 24 hours.

Gudur in Nellore district recorded a rainfall of 3cm while Narsipatnam in Visakhapatnam district received 2cm.

The forecast for the next 48 hours is isolated rains/thundershowers in coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rayalaseema.

Hyderabad itself is likely to have a partly cloudy sky with the maximum temperature not exceeding 40 degree Celsius.

Severe heat conditions prevailed in only two districts - Krishna and Warangal - out of the 23 in the state.

Moderate heat wave conditions persisted in four districts - East Godavari, Guntur and Prakasam in coastal Andhra and Khammam in Telangana.

The highest temperature of 46 degree Celsius was recorded at Hanamkonda.

"The heat wave conditions are likely to abate further in the next two days. Moderate heat wave conditions are likely to continue at isolated places of Telangana and coastal Andhra for a day or two," Bhadram said.

So far as the death toll in the heat wave is concerned, West Godavari continued to top the list with 261 deaths so far followed by East Godavari with 199.

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