At least 104 people have died after being struck by lightning in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, June 25.
Scores more were injured by falling trees and telephone poles, reports DW. India’s annual monsoon season starts in June and brings severe thunderstorms that often cause injuries and fatalities.
Lightning kills an average of 2,000 people a year in India.
The majority of the deaths on Thursday were farmers working in an open field, according to Fox News.
‘Weather warning systems are installed in three places in Bihar,’ Pradhan Parth Sarthi of the Center for Environmental Sciences, Central University of South Bihar told Anandolu Agency.
‘The sensors give information about the lightning strikes in the area. Sensors also tell if lightning is going to strike in the next 24 to 48 hours. The Weather Department issues warnings but farmers often ignore them and go to work in their fields.’
‘Lightning occurs mostly in open space and rarely in urban areas. The reason is that there is more moisture on the surface in open spaces. Because of moisture, positive and negative currents are formed due to which there is greater possibility of lightning,’ he added.
At least 2,000 people have died in lightning strikes in the country every year since 2005 according to BBC.
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