Twenty people died and many others were injured in thunderstorms that tore through parts of Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh over the last 24 hours, officials said on Tuesday.
Eleven people were killed in various parts of Jharkhand the previous day, taking the total toll in the state to 22 over a period of 48 hours. According to reports, as many as 29 people have been killed due to adverse weather conditions in the state this month.
Nine people also died due to thunderstorms and lightning strikes in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, PTI quoted a senior government official as saying. While five were killed and four others injured in Unnao district, Kanpur and Rae Bareli recorded two casualties each.
Meanwhile, several parts of Jharkhand have been witnessing torrential rainfall coupled with high-velocity winds since Sunday. While three lightning-related deaths occurred in Ranchi, two casualties each were reported from Palamu and Ramgarh districts. The districts of Chatra, Hazaribag, Lohardaga and Bokaro recorded one death each.
In Ranchi’s Itki area, 17-year-old Subhash Minz was struck by lightning around 8.30 pm on Monday while he was having dinner with four others outside his residence in Nari village. None of the others present at the spot were harmed. Minz’s body has been sent to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science in Ranchi for a post-mortem examination.
In another incident, 12-year-old Vishal Mahto was returning home from a vegetable market with his grandfather when he was struck by lightning at Koynartoli village in Ranchi. The district witnessed its third casualty when a mason, identified as Phulesh Machua, was struck by a thunderbolt at Tamar on Monday evening.
Although local reports peg the number of lightning-related deaths this year at 43, the state disaster management department (DMD) has been informed of just 14 casualties so far. Officials said this could be because the reports, compiled separately by each district, take time to reach the state headquarters.
Ashok Kumar, special secretary, state disaster management, said lightning deaths can be avoided only through ‘timely information’ and ‘preventive measures’. Working towards this goal, the department has created a Whatsapp group for timely dissemination of weather-related information among all district deputy commissioners.
‘As soon as we receive information of an approaching thunderstorm from the India Meteorological Department or Skymet, we immediately direct the district authorities to take precautionary measures,’ Kumar said, adding that do’s and don’ts are also circulated through vernacular dailies and local television channels.
Ranchi IMD director BK Mandal said the prevalent weather conditions will ‘persist for a few more days’.