As many as 130 people have died in the past month as a severe heat wave continues to grip many regions of India.

Daily high temperatures have ranged from 43 to 50 degrees Celsius in some Indian states over the past three weeks, meteorologists report.

The people whose deaths are being blamed on the weather have been succumbing primarily to heat stroke, according to medical officials in the states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

The extreme high temperatures have been drying up wells and damaging rice fields.

Power outages in Calcutta are also being blamed on the weather.

Some school officials have extended their students' summer vacation periods so that the children don't have to go to classes in the extreme heat.

Meteorologists don't expect much relief until seasonal monsoons hit later this month, bringing rain.

with files from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation