Bihar saw most deaths due to lightning strikes between April 2020-March 2021: Report

After at least 70 people died across the country due to lightning strikes on Sunday, India's Annual Lightning Report has revealed that Bihar recorded the most number of deaths due to lightning between April 2020 and March 2021.

According to the report prepared by the Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council (CROPC) that works closely with the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Odisha has topped the list of maximum thunderbolt strikes with an increase of 37 per cent over 2019-20.

Even though Odisha’s lightning strike rate has increased from 14.2 lakh strikes in 2019-20 to 20.43 lakh in 2020-21, the number of deaths has come down significantly from 207 to 156, the report said.

Read | Lightning strikes kill more than 50 across India

While most of the states have reported a decline in deaths due to lightning strikes, Bihar has seen an 81 per cent surge in the deaths. From 221 deaths in April 2019, Bihar has now reported 401 deaths during April 2020 and March 2021.

Following Bihar, Uttar Pradesh recorded 238 deaths, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Jharkhand saw 228, 156 and 132 deaths, respectively. The rest of the states saw less than 100 deaths in the same period of time.

Suggesting ways to minimise the deaths due to lightning strikes, the report said, "It is recommended that states should undertake lightning micro-zonation for geographical region-wise precise handling of the risk. The Lightning Risk Management programme for each state has to be customised as per seasonality, intensity, and frequency of lightning.”

Overall the country has witnessed a 34 per cent rise in lightning strikes, from 1.38 crore strikes in 2019-2020 to 1.85 crore strikes in 2020-2021. While Bihar experienced a 168 per cent rise in lightning strikes in 2020-21, Punjab saw a 331 per cent rise, Haryana 164 per cent, Puducherry 117 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 105 per cent, and West Bengal 100 per cent.