Thunderstorm left 80 dead, 51 injured

New Delhi: Heavy thunderstorm and dust storm which lashed most parts of the country on Sunday resulted in the death of 80 people with most casualties of 51 being reported from Uttar Pradesh, according to the home ministry.
 
In addition 14 persons died in West Bengal, 12 in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi while one in Uttarakhand. Similarly, 83 people were injured in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Delhi and two in Uttarakhand.

Ministry officials said as many as 24 districts in Uttar Pradesh, six in West Bengal, three in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi and one in Uttarakhand were affected by strong winds, rain and lightening. States which suffered the most damage on account of bad weather on Sunday were Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh.

The weather also hampered road, rail and air services damaging trees and electric poles. Adverse weather conditions were reported from some parts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtara, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Both Home  Ministry and the India Met department are said to be closely monitoring the situation.

Storm comes close on the heels of a similar weather condition which had hit several states  including UP, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Punjab leaving 134 people dead.

while over 400 others injured. In the earlier storm UP was the worst affected States from where 80 deaths were reported, most of them in Agra district in the western part of the state.

 Similarly, on May 9, several parts of Uttar Pradesh were struck by a severe storm that left 18 dead and 27 others injured.