This week, 49 people have died by lightning in India during the monsoon season.
In a single storm, lightning struck four livestock farmers from the same family, instantly killing them and three others as they sought cover under trees during a torrential downpour near Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh.
The monsoon season in India lasts from June to September, and because of the high number of fatalities, the government has had to create new regulations on how citizens should stay safe when lightning strikes.
Although this is the time of year when people (usually) die of floods or other rain-related occurrences, a government spokeswoman for the north Indian state, Shishir Singh, stated: “People are dying more from lightning than rain-related incidents.”
According to Colonel Sanjay Srivastava, a meteorologist with the Indian Meteorological Department, lightning strikes have claimed the lives of close to 750 individuals in India since April.
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.
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.
The increasing number of lightning strikes, according to Sunita Narain, director-general of the Centre for Science and Environment, is a result of global warming.
Lightning frequency increases by 12 times for every degree Celsius of temperature increase.
According to Col. 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 contributes moisture to the atmosphere,” he claimed.
Thunderclouds can produce lightning when particles from air pollution are present, according to research.