Nearly 50 people were killed by lightning in a week during the monsoon season in India | World News
Seven people have been killed by lightning strikes in northern India, bringing the total number of deaths this week to 49.
All the dead were in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is currently in the monsoon season.
The seven most recent deaths were mostly farmers in the village, who were sheltering under trees during the downpour. According to police in the nearby city of Kaushambi, the four were from the same family.
So far this season, more people have died from lightning strikes than from rain-related incidents like floods.
In the wake of the deaths, the government has issued new guidance for hurricanes.
Spokesman Shishir Singh said: “More people die from lightning than from rain-related incidents, although this is a time when people (usually) die from floods or other rain-related incidents. “
Colonel Sanjay Srivastava from India’s Meteorological Department said nearly 750 people in India been struck by lightning since April.
Heavy rain in Mumbai earlier this month
Sunita Narain, director general of the Center for Science and Environment, said global warming is affecting the number of strikes.
Some studies have predicted a one-degree increase in temperature will increase the number of strikes by 12%.
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And JP Gupta, director of the Bureau of Meteorology, said thunderstorms and lightning have increased this year due to increased pollution levels.
“High ground temperatures lead to evaporation from water bodies that add moisture to the atmosphere,” he said.
“The presence of aerosols due to air pollution creates favorable conditions for thunderstorm clouds to trigger lightning activity”.
More than 200 people have been killed in rain and landslides in India, and 42 in Bangladesh, since May 17, while hundreds of thousands of people were displaced.
