More than 70 people, including 42 in Uttar Pradesh, were killed in six states as unusually powerful dust storms, torrential rain and lightning battered large parts of the country since Sunday, officials said on Monday amid a warning of storms and squalls in the north and northwest regions in the next 48 hours.
The India Meteorological Department said in its latest forecast the western disturbance that is bringing moisture from Eurasian water bodies and north and northwest India, including the hilly states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand, and in the plains of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, will continue to affect the weather in this region on Tuesday.
Some parts of the hilly northern states can expect hail and isolated areas of Rajasthan could witness dust storms on Monday and Tuesday.
Residents of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh can expect relief from strong, widespread thunderstorms by Wednesday but weaker thunderstorms, scattered rain and gusty winds may occur in some areas for the rest of the week.
In the south, Telangana, Rayalaseema, interior areas of south Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are likely to see thunderstorm activity on Monday. On Tuesday the thunderstorm activity will be restricted to Odisha and south interior Karnataka.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter that he had asked authorities to provide “all possible assistance” to the needy.
Trail of destruction
Storms are common at this time of the year, the beginning of the rainy season in South Asia, but the severity of the weather this year, and the human cost, have been unusual.
A spokesperson of the Union home ministry said 42 were killed in Uttar Pradesh, 14 in West Bengal, 12 in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi and one in Uttarakhand. The spokesperson added 83 people were injured in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Delhi and two in Uttarakhand.
Twenty-four districts in Uttar Pradesh, six in West Bengal, three in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi and one in Uttarakhand were hit by the lightning and thunderstorms, the spokesperson added.
Prabhat Mohapatra, deputy special relief commissioner, told Reuters four people were killed in Odisha.
Dust storms and thunderstorms accompanied with high-velocity winds wreaked havoc on Sunday evening as they uprooted trees, knocked down power poles, grounded flights and disrupted trains across New Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh.
Thunderstorms also occurred at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtara, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the met department said on Sunday.
The devastation comes over 12 days after storms hit Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Punjab, killing 134 people and injuring over 400. Uttar Pradesh was the worst affected accounting for 80 deaths, most of them in Agra district in the western part of the state.
On May 9, several parts of Uttar Pradesh were struck by a severe storm that left 18 dead and 27 others injured.
