At least 111 people were killed after an unseasonal violent storm hit the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with heavy rain, hail and lightning on Wednesday, officials said. The storm swept through five districts, uprooting trees and billboards and sending them crashing into cars. It also disrupted mobile networks in many areas, hampering rescue and relief work and making it difficult for officials to do a full assessment of the damage.
State authorities initially reported that 89 people had been “killed because of the storm, lightning and rain-related incidents” before revising the death toll to 111 and the number of injured to more than 50. An official told Reuters many of the deaths were caused by falling trees and collapsing walls of homes. Narendra N Srivastava, a state official, said emergency teams were deployed across the affected areas and that homes, crops and power infrastructure had been widely damaged, especially in rural districts.
In the state’s Prayagraj district, people described panic as strong winds tore through neighbourhoods. “The storm came suddenly and the sky turned completely dark within minutes,” Ram Kishore told The Associated Press. “Tin roofs were flying and people ran indoors. We could hear trees falling throughout the evening.” In Bhadohi district, which was hit the hardest, at least 16 people died in separate incidents and six were injured, two of them seriously, local police said.
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Thursday expressed condolences over the deaths and damage caused by the storm in a message to Indian president Droupadi Murmu and prime minister Narendra Modi. The UAE foreign ministry also expressed its sympathy to the families of the victims as well as to the government and people of India. Simon Wong, the high commissioner of Singapore to India, said that he was “shocked and saddened by the news of the loss of lives” in Uttar Pradesh.
Chief minister Adityanath directed district officials to reach affected areas and complete relief work within 24 hours, warning that negligence would not be tolerated. He also ordered compensation for losses and directed revenue and agriculture departments, alongside insurance companies, to survey damage and report to the government. Uttar Pradesh, which at 240 million is home to more people than Brazil, is particularly vulnerable to violent pre-monsoon storms. However, hailstorms of this intensity are unusual in mid-May, when the state is usually in the grip of peak summer heat, with temperatures often exceeding 40C and the monsoon still weeks away.
