Seventeen residents were killed due to thunderstorms and lightning in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Sunday.
Six fatalities were reported from the Bhagalpur district, three from Vaishali, two each from Khagaria and Banka and one each from Katihar, Saharsa, Madhepura and Munger.
Kumar also announced Rs 4 lakh each as compensation for the families of the deceased residents.
The chief minister appealed to the residents to take precautions and follow the disaster management body’s warnings about bad weather.
On Sunday, the India Meteorological Department had announced that the southwest monsoon has advanced into parts of Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand and the Vidarbha region.
The weather agency’s Sunday forecast also showed that Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and gangetic West Bengal could face widespread rainfall with thunderstorms and lightning during the next five days.
Heavy rainfall was likely over Bihar, Jharkhand and gangetic West Bengal between Sunday and Tuesday, it added.
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