More than 100 people were killed in a violent storm that battered India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, with rain and hail, the state Disaster Management and Relief office said on Thursday.
At least 104 people died in about a dozen districts, the worst hit being the area around the Hindu pilgrimage city of Prayagraj, the office of the state's relief commissioner, Hrishikesh Bhaskar Yashod, told Reuters.
"The entire area where we live turned black for around half an hour," said Ashok Rai, who lives in the coal-rich industrial town of Obra in the state's Sonbhadra district.
"Strong winds lifted hoardings and signboards and thick coal dust from the ground and hurled them around," he added.
Storms are common in the northern state during the hot season from March to June, before the monsoon rains bring respite.
"Adverse weather conditions" on Wednesday led to the deaths of 89 people, Uttar Pradesh's relief commissioner said in a post on X.
There were also reports of 53 people injured, 87 houses damaged, and 114 livestock killed in the state due to the storms, rain, hail, and lightning, the post added.
Television images showed trees and billboards uprooted by gusts of wind, with some crashing into cars amid clouds of dust and debris that knocked down wooden furniture at roadside stalls.
Additional fatalities were reported in Budaun district, where five people died in storm-related incidents, and in Sonbhadra district, where one death was confirmed, according to the Press Trust of India.
The chief minister of the state, governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, had directed officials to assist survivors and distribute financial aid within 24 hours, authorities said.
Meanwhile, rain hit parts of the capital New Delhi, also affecting flight traffic at Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Tehran had made plans to strike sites in Ukraine after Kyiv attacked an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea, a senior Iranian military adviser has s...
More than 800 Afghan families returned from Pakistan and Iran over two days as Afghan authorities continued receiving thousands of people arriving thr...
Japan is carrying out its biggest military buildup since World War II, with Tokyo citing China's expanding military capabilities and increasingly asse...
U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran has a "last chance" to sign what he described as "a good document", claiming talks are continuing at Tehran's request with backing from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.
Tehran had made plans to strike sites in Ukraine after Kyiv attacked an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea, a senior Iranian military adviser has said. Iran refrained from taking action after Kyiv said the strike was a mistake, Mohsen Rezaei told the state IRIB TV channel.
Indonesian rescue teams are searching for 28 people still unaccounted for, three days after a passenger ferry caught fire off the coast of Madura island.
Two firefighting helicopters collided while battling a major wildfire in Greece on Sunday, killing two crew members as emergency services continued efforts to contain fires fuelled by extreme heat and dry conditions across Europe.
Nauru, the world’s third smallest country, has changed its name to Naoero, the Pacific island nation’s President said. The new name corresponds to the spelling and pronunciation in the national language.
Flash floods in Gansu Province in China's northwest last week killed 25 people and injured 23 more, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday, raising earlier death tolls.
Three firefighters have died as wildfires continue to burn across Greece, with Crete facing a second day of intense blazes driven by strong winds. The fires come as Europe battles destructive wildfires fuelled by extreme heat and drought.
An impending "super" El Niño is likely to inflict a combined $10 billion to $20 billion hit on affected African countries and trigger mass migration from hard-hit areas, the African Development Bank's (AfDB) top climate expert said.
Brazil has banned the production and sale of foie gras, the French delicacy made from fattened duck or goose liver. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a law late Thursday aimed at ending force-feeding in the country's foie gras industry and stopping imports.
At least 82 people have died after heavy rain triggered devastating floods across northeastern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan this week, with widespread damage to homes, farmland and infrastructure.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment