Climate crisis reason behind increase in lightning strikes
In 2019, there were 2,876 deaths due to lightning, compared with less than 1,500 on average, every year, between 1968 and 2004.
At least 74 people were killed in a lightning strike in the last 24 hours in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Of these, 11 was a visitor who was killed on Sunday when lightning hit them at Fort Amer near Jaipur.
The numbers may look high but shouldn't surprise anyone.
Lightning storms accompanied by lightning strikes (usually in pre-monsoon and monsoon months) are the biggest single killers among natural disasters (extreme weather events) in India, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Lightning strikes have killed at least 2,000 people every year in India since 2004, the Indian Meteorology Department (IMD) said last month in...