While monsoon rains are bringing much-needed water to India’s parched farms, they are also causing deadly lightning strikes, which killed at least 90 people this week.
Most lightning-related deaths occurred in the eastern state of Bihar – where an overnight storm on Tuesday killed at least 57 people and injured another 28, mainly in rural areas, Vyasji, principal secretary in Bihar, who goes by one name, said.Rains have been pounding several parts of Bihar since Tuesday evening and thunderbolts are striking at regular intervals, Mr. Vyasji said. He added the toll from lightning strikes “may go up further.”
Another 17 people died in Uttar Pradesh in north India, 10 in Jharkhand state in the east and six in Madhya Pradesh in central India, according to state authorities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply anguished by loss of lives due to lightning.”
“My thoughts and prayers are with those who lost their near and dear ones due to the lightning. May the injured recover quickly,” he wrote on Twitter.
Lightning strikes are common during India’s monsoon season, which lasts from June to September. The country experiences thousands of lightning deaths each year. A total of 24,757 people in the south Asian nation have been killed by the weather phenomenon in the past 10 years, according to official government tally. That is up 47% from the previous 10 years.
The majority of the dead are farmers and laborers who are exposed to lightning as the work in fields, unprotected by buildings or tractors.
A lack of irrigation infrastructure means their fields depend on rains for water so farmers are generally most active around the thunderstorm season. India receives 80% of its annual rainfall during the monsoon season.
Some scientists have attributed the increased lightning deaths to the dangers of global warming. They say reducing global warming may slow the increase in such deaths and the fastest way to help these farmers is to get them off the fields.
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