Death toll in UP thunderstorm rises to 10

The death toll in Tuesday's thunderstorm and torrential rain rose to 10 on Wednesday with more casualties being reported from several districts, officials said.

Two deaths each have been reported from Mainpuri, Auraiya and Bulandshahr. The remaining deaths have been reported from the Braj area around Mathura-Vrindavan. All deaths have been due to lightning strikes.

An official told IANS that rescue and relief operations had been undertaken at places where the thunderstorm had uprooted trees and brought down electric poles and hoardings, disrupting power supply, telecommunications and vehicular movement on roads.

Things were back to normal on Wednesday though rain was reported at several places, the official said. Some people, who had been injured in lightning strikes in Etah and Firozabad, were being treated for burn injuries.

A strong thunderstorm hit Lucknow and many other parts of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday evening, leaving a trail of destruction.

With wind speeds up to 75 km per hour amid pitch black darkness, the thunderstorm hit Barabanki, Lucknow, Gonda, Amethi, Ambedkarnagar, Sultanpur, Sitapur, Faizabad and Bahraich.

Rain and hail were reported in Kannauj, Auraiya, Farrukhabad, Unnao, Kanpur, Etawah, Fatehpur, Banda, Mahoba, Chitrakoot, Hardoi and Hamirpur.