LUCKNOW, MAY 10,
Sixteen people were killed as a thunderstorm hit several parts of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, officials said in Lucknow on Thursday.
Twenty-seven people were reported injured, while 37 animals, 16 in Aligarh and 13 in Mathura, perished in the storm.
Four deaths were recorded in Etawah, while three each were reported from Aligarh and Mathura districts in the Braj region. Two died each in Agra and Firozabad, while one each was reported in Kanpur Dehat and Hathras.
Out of the 11 injured, seven were reported in Hathras, while six each were recorded in Agra and Kanpur Dehat.
At least seven houses (three pucca and four kutcha) were damaged in the storm, including three in Etawah and two in Agra.
Awanish Awasthi, principal secretary, State Information Department, said: “One person has died in Etmadpur area of Agra after a tree fell on his kuccha house. The DM has been told to distribute relief immediately.”
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is away campaigning in Karnataka, in a statement directed district officials to provide immediate compensation to the affected persons and calculate the losses.
“He said laxity and callousess in relief works will not be tolerated,” a government spokesperson said.
IMD warning
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a warning that thunderstorms, accompanied by gusty winds, are very likely at isolated parts of East Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal and a duststorm likely in western Uttar Pradesh, on May 12.
The National Weather Forecasting Centre has predicted thunderstorms accompanied by squall (wind speed 50-70 kmph) in several States of North and East India on May 13.
The Wednesday storm comes a week after 73 persons died in the State as hailstorm, lightning and duststorms damaged property and crops and caused human loss in 22 districts of the State.
With 43 human casualties and 51 injured persons, Agra was the worst affected district.
