JAKARTA – At least 12 people have died and more than 14 people have been injured as a result of lightning generated by a storm in the Indian state of Odisha.

A three-hour thunderstorm at the weekend afternoon produced 61,000 lightning strikes, the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority said.

Meanwhile, no fewer than 3,200 lightning strikes were recorded on Sunday, with no casualties.

The government has offered compensation of 400,000 Indian rupees to the families of the victims, said the Special Assistance Organization (SRC), responsible for disaster management in Odisha.

Help is also available for those who lost livestock to the storm, the SRC said.

Previously, the state had been hit by heavy rain and lightning in the past few days.

Separately, India’s Meteorological Department, the federal meteorological agency, forecast an area of ​​low pressure over the North Bay of Bengal in the next 24 hours and warned of heavy rains until Thursday.

“Thunderstorms and lightning are also expected in parts of northern Odisha,” said Uma Shankar Das, IMD’s senior scientist in Bhubaneswar. national news September 4.

“People are advised to take shelter during thunderstorms and thunderstorms to stay safe. People should stay away from trees and bodies of water,” he said.

Lightning strikes are known to be common in the region between April and June during the rainy season, but are rare outside of this period.

About 2,500 people die each year nationwide from thunder and lightning, according to India’s National Disaster Management Authority. Between 2020 and 2021, there were 18.5 million lightning strikes across India, according to a report by the Lightning Resilient India Campaign.

In Odisha itself, lightning is considered a “state-specific disaster”. In 2021 and 2022, 281 people were killed by lightning across 30 districts, according to media reports.

The state is known to have an agreement with US weather intelligence data company, Earth Networks, to provide early warning.

India also has the technology to predict thunder and lightning, but the public is still not aware of this phenomenon.

Meanwhile, India has been experiencing severe weather in recent years due to climate change, including intense heat and cold, thunderstorms and floods.

Keywords: international storm in India extreme weather conditions