At least 80 people died on Sunday as dust storms and thunderstorms hit parts of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and New Delhi, PTI reported.
Thunderstorms and hail left 51 people dead in Uttar Pradesh while 14 people – including four children – died in West Bengal, 12 in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi and one in Uttarakhand, the home ministry said. Over 120 people were injured in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Delhi and two in Uttarakhand.
Over 84 houses were damaged in the storm in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district, whereas most number of deaths, eight, were recorded in Bareilly, according to The Times of India.
High-velocity winds uprooted trees in New Delhi and some other parts of North India. Rail, road and air traffic was also severely affected. In the national Capital, at least 40 flights were diverted and 24 delayed, DNA reported.
In East Delhi’s Pandav Nagar area, a woman died after a tree fell on her. Another woman was killed and her 17-year-old son seriously wounded when an illegal hoarding fell on them in Bisrakh area of Greater Noida. The India Meteorological Department has said that thunderstorms also occurred at a few places in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtara, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, PTI reported.
The thunderstorms are likely to continue over the next couple of days, Charan Singh, a scientist with the Indian Meteorological Department said. The Met office has also warned that thunderstorms and dust storms with wind speeds of up to 70 km per hour were “very likely” on Monday in 26 districts of Uttar Pradesh.
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