The toll due to the severe heat wave gripping Andhra Pradesh and Orissa for the last 14 days has shot up to 665.

On Thursday alone, Andhra Pradesh witnessed 63 deaths. Orissa has seen 89 deaths in the last two weeks.

Andhra Pradesh Relief Commissioner D C Rosaiah told rediff.com on Thursday that as many as 833 people were affected by sunstroke.

Nalgonda district continued to top the list of fatalities with 119 deaths reported so far, followed by East Godavari (85), West Godavari, Prakasam and Karimnagar (52 each), Guntur (46), Krishna (37) and Nellore (30).

The toll in other districts included 16 in Warangal, 12 in Chittoor, nine in Khammam, six in Adilabad, five each in Mahbubnagar and Rangareddy, four each in Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool, two in Adilabad and one in Cuddapah.

No fatalities have been reported from Hyderabad, Medak, Anantapur and Vizianagaram districts so far.

Rosaiah, who reviewed the situation with senior officials said, "The health department has been asked to step up measures in the affected districts to reduce the number of casualties."

Officials said that most of the victims were poor daily wage labourers, rickshaw pullers, construction workers and street hawkers

Homeless people such as beggars, elderly destitutes and street urchins also figure among the victims.

In Orissa the heat wave, though not as severe as its neighbour, is expected to continue for next 48 hours at the least.

Bhubaneswar, the capital, witnessed 44.7 degrees on Thursday. Titilagarh in western Orissa, on Wednesday, had witnessed 48.7 degrees, the highest this summer.

Inputs from Giridhar Gopal in Bhubaneswar