80 dead, 136 injured in five states due to lightning strikes, thunderstorms across five states

NEW DELHI: As many as 80 people have been killed in five states due to thunderstorms and lightning strikes since yesterday, with Uttar Pradesh alone recording 51 deaths, the Home Ministry said today.

Fourteen people died in West Bengal, 12 in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi and one in Uttarakhand, a ministry spokesperson said.

Of the 136 people injured in lightning strikes and thunderstorms, 123 were from Uttar Pradesh, 11 from Delhi and two from Uttarakhand.

Lightning strikes and thunderstorms hit 24 districts in Uttar Pradesh, six in West Bengal, three in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi and one in Uttarakhand, the spokesperson said.

Dust storms and thunderstorms wreaked havoc in Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh yesterday, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

High-velocity winds uprooted trees and affected road, rail and air services last evening at a number of places in north India, including the national capital.

Thunderstorms also occurred at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had said yesterday.

The devastation comes over 12 days after storms hit Uttar Pradesh (UP), Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Punjab, killing 134 people and injuring over 400.

UP was the worst affected, accounting for 80 deaths, most of them in Agra district in the western part of the state.

Subsequently, on May 9, several parts of Uttar Pradesh were struck by a severe storm that left 18 dead and 27 others injured.