Sixteen people died and 25 were injured in a thunderstorm that hit nine districts of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday evening. The regional weather office in Lucknow has predicted more storms in the next 24 hours.
Four deaths were recorded in Etawah, while three each were reported from Aligarh and Mathura districts in Braj region of UP. Two died each in Agra and Firozabad, while one each was reported in Kanpur Dehat and Hathras.
Chief Minister Adityanath, who is in Karnataka ahead of Saturday’s Assembly elections, directed officials to distribute relief materials immediately, reported “I spoke to respective district magistrates and asked them to ensure compensation to those affected by this evening,” Relief Commissioner Sanjay Kumar told a source.
“He said laxity and callousness in relief works will not be tolerated,” a government spokesperson said.
With the weather disturbance heading eastwards, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted thunderstorm accompanied with squall and hail at isolated places over West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Jharkhand and Bihar on Thursday. Heavy rain is also expected at isolated places over Tamil Nadu, south interior Karnataka and Kerala today.
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