India / 8 people killed in fresh lightning strikes in Bihar

Patna: Lightning strikes killed eight people in Bihar on Friday and two minor boys drowned in a rainwater-filled lake in Maharashtra, even as the flood situation remained grim in Assam, claiming one more life and affecting over a million people in 20 districts. Mumbai, meanwhile, received heavy rains with the IMD predicting intermittent moderate to heavy rainfall and “possibility of very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places” on Saturday.

In Bihar, officials said in Patna that at least eight people were killed in lightning strikes on Friday, a day after 26 died in similar incidents in eight districts of the state. The latest fatalities were reported from five districts, with Samastipur accounting for the highest number of three deaths. Two deaths were reported from Lakhisarai, while one each died in Gaya, Banka and Jamui districts, sources in the Disaster Management Department said.

More than 100 people have died due to lightning strikes in the state in the last one week.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed grief over the deaths and ordered a payment of Rs 4 lakh as ex-gratia to next of the kin of each deceased.

Even though floodwaters are receding from a few districts of Assam, the overall situation remained grim with one more death being reported on Friday, while 13.3 lakh people remain affected across 20 districts, down from 22 Thursday.

The fresh death, reported from Dhubri district, took the toll to 35, officials said, adding the cumulative death figures in flood and landslides have risen to 59.

The ASDMA said the affected districts are: Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Chirang, Darrang, Nalbari, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Morigaon, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.

The floodwaters have also killed 41 animals in Kaziranga National Park, a state bulletin said, quoting the DFO of the Eastern Assam Wildlife Division.

The flood has also affected 19,14,001 domestic animals and poultry across the state during the last 24 hours, it added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured full support to Assam in fighting the COVID-19 and flood crises.

PM Narendra Modi has sanctioned ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for next of kin of persons who lost their lives due to floods in Assam, from Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF),” the PMO tweeted.

Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, two boys drowned in a rain-filled lake in Udgir tehsil of Latur district on Friday morning, police said.

Indarjeet Machole and Govind Boyane, both 12 years old, entered the lake for a swim in Hanmantwadi area and drowned around 11am after getting caught in silt accumulated at the bottom, an official said.

The India Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rainfall for Bhopal and Indore on Saturday. Showers were witnessed in several parts of Madhya Pradesh since Thursday evening.

Up north, sultry weather conditions continued to prevail in Haryana and Punjab, with maximum temperatures hovering 3-7 notches above normal limits.

Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a maximum temperature of 39.1 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal limits, according to the Meteorological Department in Chandigarh.

In Haryana, Hisar sweltered at a high of 44.1 degrees Celsius, five notches up against normal while Narnaul’s maximum settled at 39.2 degrees Celsius.

Ambala recorded a maximum of 39 degrees Celsius and Karnal 38.5 degrees Celsius, both four notches above the normal.

In Punjab, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala recorded near similar maximum temperatures of 41.4, 41.7 and 41.3 degrees Celsius, which were four, five and seven notches above the normal, respectively. There has not been much rainfall activity in Haryana and Punjab during the past 4-5 days making the weather hot and humid.

The south-west monsoon hit the two states including Chandigarh over a week ago. However, the Meteorological Department here has forecast that monsoon rainfall activity is likely to improve in the two states including Chandigarh from July 4.

Hot and humid weather conditions also prevailed jn western region of Rajasthan as southwest monsoon weakened, a MeT department official said.

Most parts of the state recorded an increase of two-three notches in maximum and minimum temperatures compared to Thursday, he said.

Bikaner was the hottest city in the state with 45.1 degrees Celsius, followed by 45 in Sriganganagar, 43.8 in Churu, 43.5 in Jaisalmer. Major cities of the state recorded minimum temperature between 26.7 degree Celsius and 33.7 degree Celsius.