Nearly 50 people killed by lightning in a week amid India’s monsoon season

There is research suggesting that a rise in temperatures by merely one degree increases the number of lightning strikes by 12%. Pollution is also thought to increase the rate of strikes. Currently, more people are dying due to strikes than rain-related incidents like flooding.

Seven people have been killed by lightning in northern India, bringing the total death toll to 49 this week.

All those who have died were in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is currently in its monsoon season.

The most recent seven deaths were mainly village farmers, who were sheltering under trees during a downpour. Four were from the same family, according to police in the nearby city of Kaushambi.

So far this season, more people have died from lightning strikes than rain-related incidents like flooding.

In the wake of the deaths, the government issued new guidelines for the storms.

Spokesperson Shishir Singh said: “People are dying more from lightning than rain-related incidents, though this is the time when people (typically) die of floods or other rain-related incidents.”

Colonel Sanjay Srivastava from the Indian Meteorological Department said almost 750 people in India have been killed by lightning since April.

Agencies