The Indian meteorological service has warned of more lightning in the next 48 hours. (Representative)
Patna:
Lightning strikes have killed 147 people in Bihar in the past 10 days, officials said on Sunday, warning of more severe weather ahead due to climate change.
About 215 people – farmers, workers and cattle breeders – have died from strikes in the state since late March, authorities said.
“I have been informed by meteorological experts, scientists and officials that the increase in temperatures due to climate change is the main cause of the increase in lightning,” said Bihar’s Minister for Disaster Management , Lakshmeshwar Rai.
Twenty-five people died on Saturday, he said.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of more lightning strikes in the next 48 hours.
Lightning strikes during the annual monsoon from June to September are quite common. But officials said this year the number of deaths in Bihar has already exceeded the total number recorded each year for the state in recent years, even though the monsoon season has just started.
Last year, 170 people were killed in lightning strikes during the monsoon.
Bihar’s agro-meteorologist Abdus Sattar said that lightning and thunder were caused by large-scale instability in the atmosphere, fueled by temperature increases and excessive humidity.
State authorities have deployed a mobile phone application that they say predicts possible lightning strikes. But many farmers do not have smartphones.
In neighboring Uttar Pradesh, just over 200 people have been struck and killed by lightning since April, officials said.
More than 2,300 people were killed by lightning in 2018, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, the latest figures available.
