 |
| Photo Credit: AP. |
LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Hazardous weather has killed at least 36 people in northern India over the past 24 hours, including 12 who who were struck by lightning, officials said as they warned of more heavy downpours in the coming days.
Across the
northern state of Uttar Pradesh, at least 24 people died after their homes
collapsed amid unrelenting rains, Relief Commissioner Ranvir Prasad said.
Mohamed
Usman, 15, was on his friend’s roof in the city of Prayagraj when lightning
struck Friday evening, killing him instantly. His friend Aznan, who goes by one
name, was injured and is being treated in a hospital.
“As soon as
they set foot on the roof, they were hit by lightning and my son died,” said
Mohammad Ayub, Usman’s father.
Officials
said 39 people in the state have died from lightning in the last five days,
prompting authorities to issue new guidelines for how people can protect themselves
during a thunderstorm.
Lightning
strikes are common during India’s monsoon season, which runs from June to
September.
Col. Sanjay
Srivastava, whose organization Lightning Resilient India Campaign works with
the Indian Meteorological Department, said that deforestation, the depletion of
bodies of water, and pollution all contribute to climate change, which leads to
more lightning.
Global
warming has also increased the frequency of lightning, said Sunita Narain,
director general at the Center for Science and Environment. A 1-degree-Celsius
(1.8-degree-Fahrenheit) rise in temperature increases lightning by 12 times.
There has
been a 34% rise in lightning strikes across India over the past year, which has
caused deaths to also jump. India recorded 1,489 deaths due to lightning in
2016, and the number grew to 2,869 in 2021, according to Srivastava.