India’s second annual Lightning Report was recently published. According to it, lightning in India has become the biggest cause of death by forces of nature.

Highlights:

On July 11, 2021 lightning strikes killed about 70 people in different parts India, including Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Findings of second annual Lightning Report:

=> As per the report, Bihar has reported most deaths because of lightning. In between April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 about 401 deaths were reported.

=> Bihar is followed by Uttar Pradesh where 238 deaths were reported in same period.

=> UP is followed by Madhya Pradesh with 228, Odisha with 156 deaths and Jharkhand with 132 deaths.

=> While, other states reported less than 100 deaths in same period.

=> Majority of the states have reported decline in deaths caused due to thunderbolt strikes between 2019 and 2020 except Bihar.

=> Bihar recorded a jump of 81% in deaths from 221 deaths in 2019-20 to 401 during April 2020 and March 2021.

Scenario of Lightning strikes:

Overall, there has been a 34% increase in Lightning strikes in the country. It has increased from 1.38 crore strikes in 2019-2020 to 1.85 crore strikes in 2020-2021. Punjab reported a 331% rise in thunderbolt strikes. Bihar witnessed 168% increase in lightning strikes. It is followed by Haryana (164%), Puducherry (117%), Himachal Pradesh (105%), and West Bengal (100%).

About Lightning:

Lightning is a huge spark of electricity in atmosphere between clouds, air, or ground. There are three kinds of lightning viz., Inter-cloud, Intra-cloud, and Cloud-to-ground. Report finds, humans are killed because of cloud-to-ground lightning. As per it, greatest number of deaths were because people were standing under isolated tall trees while 25% of people were struck in open.