Thunderstorm kills 17 in Uttar Pradesh, several injured

New Delhi : Yet another deadly hit by thunderstorm claimed 17 lives in Uttar Pradesh. Close to 11 people were injured and huge destruction took place in the state. Reports also mentioned four deaths in Uttarakhand’s Mandal. The devastation took place last evening.

Talking to a UP government spokesperson, he said that most of the deaths were caused due to falling of trees and incidents of house collapse.

Moradabad bore the brunt of the storm, with as many as seven deaths reported from the district, followed by three deaths from Sambhal, the spokesperson said.

Two deaths were reported each from Muzaffarnagar and Meerut, while one death was reported from Amroha.

Four persons were injured in Amroha, three in Moradabad and two in Muzaffarnagar, spokesperson said.The state government has directed all district magistrates to distribute relief within 24 hours.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD), on Thursday, issued a warning of a thunderstorm with strong winds and rain in various parts of Uttar Pradesh.

The warning comes two days after a huge storm claimed over 30 lives in various states across the country including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.

The state has faced three major dust storms last month and had witnessed 130 deaths

On May 13, 39 people died in various districts including Bareilly, Barabanki, Bulandshahr and Lakhimpur Khiri districts.

On May 9, a severe storm left 18 dead and 27 others injured. Five people died in Etawah district, three each in Mathura, Aligarh and Agra, two in Firozabad and one each in Hathras and Kanpur Dehat.

Thunderstorms and lightning that took place on May 2-3 killed 80 dead in the state, Agra district in the western part of the state got hugely affected.