The death toll in the oppressive heat wave battering Andhra Pradesh for the last 18 days on Monday evening reached 1,020, with 136 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

State Relief Commissioner D C Rosaiah told rediff.com that the south coastal districts and parts of Telangana and Rayalaseema continued to reel under severe heat wave conditions. 

Temperatures hovered around 46 to 47 degrees at several places in coastal Andhra and Telangana.

While Nalgonda has accounted for the highest number of 192 deaths, the toll rose to 152 in East Godavari, 138 in Guntur and 130 in West Godavari districts.

Prakasam accounted for 98 deaths, Krishna 66, Chittoor 42, Karimnagar 41, Nellore 31, Visakhapatnam 27, Warangal 25 and Khammam and Adilabad, 20 each.

Vijayawada recorded a temperature of 45.9 degrees Celsius on Monday while the mercury dropped a little in Hyderabad (43.2) and Tirupati (43.2).

Hanamkonda, Ramagundam, Khammam, Bhadrachalam and Nizamabad towns in the Telangana region recorded temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius.

Hyderabad Meteorological Centre Director C V V Bhadram said the severe heat wave is likely to persist during the next 48 hours.