Over 70 dead in lightning strikes in several states, highest in UP

Lightning strikes: Number of deaths due to lightning strikes in several states has risen to 71, including 42 in Uttar Pradesh. Besides UP, lightning strikes were also reported from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In MP, 12 people, including four minors, were killed and 11 others injured in separate incidents. In Uttar Pradesh, the 14 fatalities were reported from Allahabad, followed by five each in Kanpur Dehat and Fatehpur among others. Twenty-three persons were injured in such incidents in UP.

In Rajasthan, the number of people who died in separate incidents of lightning rose to 23, including 12 in Jaipur. Twenty-seven people were also injured in those incidents, news agency PTI reported on Monday.

Also, heavy rains triggered flash floods in parts of Himachal Pradesh and the Jammu region disrupting normal life on Monday. In Himachal, heavy rains triggered flash floods in Dharamshala, where cars and two buildings were swept away. The floods also damaged several buildings, including one housing a government school. Heavy rains and continued bad weather led to the closure of the Kangra airport at Gaggal.

Now, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir, and yellow alert for Himachal, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh for Tuesday. These regions are expected to witness heavy rainfall on 13 July.

On Monday, rains lashed several parts of Punjab and Haryana. In Punjab, Amritsar received a heavy rainfall during the day (56 mm), Ambala, Panchkula, Karnal and Yamunanagar in Haryana were among the places to receive showers.

Light to moderate rains also occurred at few places over eastern Uttar Pradesh and at isolated places over western parts of the state. Rainfall was recorded in Kannauj, Allahabad, Jalaun, Siddharth Nagar, Shravasti, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Hardoi, Farrukhabad, Agra, Maharajganj, Balrampur, Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, Hamirpur and Shahjahanpur.

Several parts of Rajasthan received also showers, with Kota receiving 2.7 mm rainfall. Other places to receive rainfall were Sriganganagar (2.2 mm) followed by 2.0 mm in Bhilwara and 0.2 mm in Barmer.

For Tuesday, the weather department has issued red alert for Konkan and Goa, and central Maharashtra. An orange alert warning has been issued for Gujarat, parts of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Assam. The IMD has also sounded a yellow alert for Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, parts of West Bengal and Kerala.