Storms kill 34 in Bihar and UP, 3 kids die in U’khand

Patna/Lucknow:  Thunderstorms struck at several places in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, killing at least 34 people as hutments collapsed and trees fell, officials said on Tuesday.

 Nineteen of them died in Bihar as high-velocity winds packing speeds of up to 70 km per hour swept across many areas last night, followed by pre-monsoon showers, the weather office here said.

According to the disaster management department, 16 out of the 19 deaths in Bihar were reported in four districts situated south of the Ganges.

Adjoining districts of Gaya and Aurangabad reported the maximum number of five deaths each.

In Aurangabad, all the deaths were caused by lightning and the victims included two women. In Gaya, collapsed roofs and falling trees killed five people, including two women aged 70 and 45, a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy.

Two girls and a boy were injured in Gaya, the department said.

Four people, including three children aged 8-14 years, died in Munger after being struck by lightning and one person was injured. Lightning claimed the lives of a 16-year-old girl and a 45-year-old man in Nawada district.

Three deaths were reported from Katihar in north Bihar where an 11-year-old girl, a 45-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man were crushed to death under trees uprooted by the storm. Two women were injured.

Meanwhile, three children were killed and another was injured after a tree uprooted by a storm fell over their hut in the Mori area of Uttarkashi district today, a government official said.

The tree fell on the hut in Bhankwad village around 6 pm on Tuesday killing the three children, SDM Purola Puran Singh Rana said. In Uttar Pradesh, 15 people were killed and 10 injured, a senior official said on Tuesday.

“While six persons were killed in Unnao in incidents of thunderstorm and lightning on Monday night, three persons died in Raebareli, and two each in Kanpur, Pilibhit and Gonda districts,” UP Relief Commissioner Sanjay Kumar said.

Among those injured, four belonged to Unnao and three each were from Kannauj and Raebareli, he said. He said the storm damaged hutments in Unnao and Rae Bareli districts.