Lightning kills 17 in Bihar, CM announces ex gratia of ₹4 lakh

CM Nitish Kumar also appealed to people to take full vigil in bad weather and follow the suggestions issued by the Disaster Management Department to prevent thunderstorms.

PATNA Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has expressed grief over the death of 17 people in the lightning and thunderstorm activities in the state between Saturday night and Sunday.

Rains lash Patna on Saturday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, the chief minister said, “Six people died in Bhagalpur, three in Vaishali, two in Khagaria, one each in Katihar, Saharsa, Madhepura and Munger and two in Banka due to thunderstorm and lightning. My deepest condolences to the affected families. An ex gratia of ₹4 lakh will be given immediately to the next of kin of all the deceased.”

He also appealed to people to take full vigil in bad weather and follow the suggestions issued by the Disaster Management Department to prevent thunderstorms.

“There is an appeal to the people to take full vigil in bad weather and follow the suggestions issued by the Disaster Management Department from time to time to prevent thunderstorms. Stay at home and stay safe in bad weather,” he added.

According to the Annual Lightning Report 2021-22 released last week, Bihar registered 2,59,266 lightning strikes in the year and stood at the 10th rank in the country. Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of lightning strikes in the country while the neighbouring state Jharkhand stood at the sixth position.

The report was released on June 16 by the Lightning Resilient India Campaign, a joint initiative of the Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council (CROPC) and the India Meteorological Department, Ministry of Earth Sciences.

As per the report, Bihar has registered 23.4% decline in lightning strikes in comparison to 2020-21.

According to the Annual Lightning Report 2020-21, as many as 401 people died due to lightning and thunderstorm between April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 which was the highest in the country

However, data regarding fatalities due to thunderbolts in 2021-22 is not available.

Vivek Sinha, director at Patna Meteorological Centre, said, “Bihar, being in tropical region, is very prone to lightning and thunderstorm activities. Pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons are the vulnerable period for dangerous thunderbolts owing to factors like high temperature and moisture which leads to intense cloud formation.”

Talking about preventative measures, he said, “Mobile applications like Damini of the ministry of earth sciences and Indra Vajra of the state government are capable of identifying the areas of potential formation of thunderstorms before 45 minutes. In case there is no access to smartphones, especially to farmers, they can make low-cost improvised lightning arrester using a rod and bamboo to limit voltage. “

“The best measure is staying alert. There is a gap of 10 to 15 minutes between lightning and thunderstorm. The moment one sees lightning, one should take shelter in a concrete structure. People should never take shelter under trees during lightning activities”, he said.

Meanwhile, Patna Meteorological Centre on Monday predicted heavy to very heavy fairly rain for the next two to three days.

As per the weather bulletin issued on Monday, Rosera in Samastipur received 85 mm of rainfall, Khudwan in Aurangabad 74.4 mm, Dharhara in Munger 66.4 mm and Siswan in Siwan 41.2 mm during the past 24 hours.

Kamini Kumari, an official at Patna Meteorological Centre, said, “Heavy to very heavy rain is likely to occur at north-east districts for the next three days. Thunderstorm and lightning activities are likely to occur over all districts of the state for next five days.”