AMN
At least 45 people were killed and over dozen injured due lightning in different parts of Bihar last evening, while in Uttar Pradesh, 20 people including nine minors, were killed due to lightning and wall collapse following heavy rainfall in several parts of the state during last 24 hours.
In Bihar 7 persons were killed in Rohtas district, 5 each died in Patna and Kaimur districts. Casualty is likely to go up as reports from remote areas are yet to reach the state capital. Principal Secretary of Disaster Management Department Vyasji has asked the District Magistrates to send reports about the extent of damage in their districts due to the lightning.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced an ex-gratia of 4 lakh rupees to the next kin of those killed in the incident. Meanwhile, southwest monsoon has further advanced in Bihar covering almost the entire state including the capital. Patna Met office Director Ashish Sen said only three districts of the extreme northwest part of the state that includes Champaran area are yet to be covered by the monsoon. He said, monsoon is expected to gain momentum in the next three to four days and state is likely to receive good rainfall. Rain brought down temperatures in Patna and other parts of the state yesterday. Patna received 17.2 mm rainfall, while the temple town of Gaya registered 32.6 mm of rainfall. Met Department said Bhagalpur received 25.7 mm of rain.
In Uttar Pradesh, 20 persons, including nine minors, were killed due to lightning and wall collapse following heavy rainfall in several parts of the state during last 24 hours. Five persons were killed by lightning in Ballia which also caused the death of one each in Jaunpur and Chandauli districts yesterday. The thunderbolt also killed three children and left two others injured at Barwalia village in Kapilvastu police station area of Siddharth Nagar district.
Tehsildar of Naughar area, Vimal Shukla told media that the children were studying inside a madrasa when lightning struck killing them yesterday. Two others, including a teacher at the madrasa, were seriously injured, he added. District Magistrate, Sidharth Nagar, Narendra Shankar Pandey said compensation would be released for the family of the victims.
Seven persons were killed in separate lightning strikes in Etawah. The Etawah DM Nitin Bansal said that all seven deaths occurred while the victims were out of their homes. In yet another incident, three children were killed when their house collapsed early morning in Kanpur. According to Kanpur (Rural) SP Pushpanjali Mathur, the wall and roof of the house of Shiv Naraine collapsed trapping and killing the three children.
According to the MeT department, heavy rainfall was recorded in various districts of the state. Dhauraraha received 10 cm of rainfall, followed by Lucknow (8), Bisauli (7), Etawah, Unnao, Meerut (5 cm each), Barabanki, Neemsar, Jhansi (4 cm each) and Kheri, Jaunpur, Varanasi (BHU) and Kayamgunj (3 cm each). The MeT department has forecast rains or thundershowers at many places in western UP and a few places in eastern UP on Wednesday.