Wild storms kill at least 70 in India

World
Europe

At least 70 people have been killed and over 100 injured after a fresh wave of violent sandstorms and thunderstorms battered India, officials said Monday.

Winds of over 100 kilometers per hour struck parts of north, east and south India late Sunday, uprooting trees, electricity pylons and damaging houses, officials from federal and state disaster management agencies said.

Indian workers remove a damaged electrical transmission tower which collapsed in a storm on May 12 in Ibban Kallan village on the outskirts of Amritsar, northwest India's Punjab state, on May 13, 2018. /VCG Photo

A total of 40 people were killed by hail and thunderstorms that brought down walls, trees and power pylons in Uttar Pradesh state, T. P. Gupta of the state disaster management department said.

Another 80 were injured by the winds that flattened nearly 40 houses across India's most populous state.

People cross road during sudden thunder storm and dust storm at Rajpath, on May 13, 2018 in New Delhi, India. /VCG Photo

Another 14 people were killed Sunday by thunderstorms in West Bengal and 12 by lightning bolts in Andhra Pradesh.

The southern state had also been hit by more than 40,000 lightning bolts on May 1, killing 14 people in a matter of hours.

The latest storms also killed two people each in Bihar and the capital New Delhi where winds reached more than 100 kilometers an hour, national disaster management authorities said.

Total blackout during sudden thunder storm and dust storm at Rajpath with the backdrop of India Gate, on May 13, 2018, in New Delhi, India. /VCG Photo

Indira Gandhi International Airport was closed for more than two hours because of the winds, with 70 flights diverted.

The deaths came just 10 days after a sandstorm left more than 84 dead, most of them in Agra – the city of the Taj Mahal.

India has been gripped by a freak weather system since the beginning of May, with many parts of the country experiencing extreme conditions.

This photo taken on May 2, 2018 shows an auto rickshaw on a road during a dust storm in Mathura, in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state. /VCG Photo

Weather forecasters warned of fierce storms in parts of the north and east for the next two days.

Similar storms hit the region every year but this year has been the deadliest. On Thursday, a thunderstorm left at least 22 people dead across India.

The May 2 dust storm killed at least 134 people and caused widespread destruction in the western state of Rajasthan and in northern Punjab and Uttarakhand states.

Source(s): AFP