According to authorities, seven persons, mostly farmers, were struck and killed by lightning in a village in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, on Thursday.
This brings the state’s total number of lightning-related fatalities this week to 49.
The farmers were struck by lightning on Tuesday and perished instantly.
They had sought refuge under trees amid a pouring monsoon storm.
According to police official Hem Raj Meena, the victims included four family members and some cow grazers near the city of Kaushambi.
According to state government spokesman Shishir Singh, the high death toll has led the administration to provide new rules for how citizens should safeguard themselves during a lightning storm.
Even though this is the time of year when people (usually) die of floods or other rain-related incidents, more people are dying from lightning than from rain-related incidents, according to Singh.
The monsoon season in India lasts from June through September.
Lightning has claimed the lives of approximately 750 people in India since April, according to Col. Sanjay Srivastava, whose organization “Lightning India Resilient Campaign” collaborates with the Indian Meteorological Department.
This includes the 16 fatalities earlier this month in Madhya Pradesh state in central India as well as the 20 fatalities in eastern Bihar state during the last two days.
The Center for Science and Environment’s director-general, Sunita Narain, asserted that climate change is a factor in the increase in lightning strikes.
Lightning frequency increases by 12 times for every degree Celsius of temperature increase.
According to Srivastava, pollution, water body depletion, and deforestation all contribute to climate change, which increases lightning.
The increase in thunderstorms and lightning this year, according to J P Gupta, director of the Meteorological Department, is a result of higher pollution levels.
“High ground temperatures cause water bodies to evaporate, which increases the amount of moisture in the air.
Air pollution-related particles present in the atmosphere make it easier for thunderclouds to produce lightning “said Gupta.
In India’s Assam, Manipur, Tripura, and Sikkim, torrential rains and mudslides have claimed the lives of over 200 people, while since May 17 in Bangladesh, 42 people have perished.
During the monsoon season, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to relocate.