With the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting thunderstorms and gusty winds in several Indian states on Friday, May 4, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a warning for massive thunderstorm in parts of north India for the next 72 hours.
On Monday, May 7, IMD predicts thunderstorm, accompanied with squall and hail in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. It also forecasted thunderstorms and gusty winds in Uttarakhand and Punjab.
Heavy rain is expected in North-Eastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura on Monday, while thunderstorms/dust storm in Rajasthan.
With north Indian states, particularly Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan still recovering from the devastation caused by the storm that hit the region on Wednesday, the IMD issued a warning that fresh thunderstorms might strike several parts of India between May 5 and 7.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, facing flak in his state as well as in Karnataka for being away on BJP election campaign at the time of the natural calamity, decided to cut short his campaign trip and will return to Agra tonight. Over 100 had died in UP in the storm.
Fresh thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds are likely to hit isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, said the NDMA.
This comes a day after over 100 people were killed as fierce dust and thunderstorms wreaked havoc across northern and western India on Wednesday and Thursday, uprooting electricity poles and trees and flattening houses, besides disrupting rail, road and air traffic and power supplies.
The freakish phenomena also damaged crops, killed livestock and affected mobile and Internet services and left a trail of destruction across states.
The death toll due to thunderstorm and lightning in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan has reached 124 in two days, confirmed the Ministry of Home Affairs, reported The Indian Express (IE). At least 73 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh, 35 killed in Rajasthan, eight in Telangana, six in Uttarakhand and two in Punjab.
At least 183 others were injured as the massive dust storm, followed by thunder showers, snapped power lines and sent tin roofs and street hoardings flying in parts of eastern Rajasthan and the adjoining areas of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday and Thursday, reported DNA.
Weather experts on Thursday had estimated that wind speeds touched 100 kilometres per hour, even as they predicted another dust storm to hit parts of UP and Rajasthan due to cyclonic circulation formation in the region. Most of the casualties were caused by lightning, which struck at many places after the dust storm settled down on Thursday, said the IE report.
In UP, Agra district was the worst hit, while Bijnor, Bareli, Saharanpur, Pilibhit, Firozabad, Chitrakoot, Muzaffarnagar, Rae Bareli and Unnao were also affected. In Rajasthan, the dust storm struck Bharatpur, Alwar and Dholpur districts.
Squall and rains also hit Delhi on Wednesday, with wind speeds reaching 59 km per hour in the evening. The maximum temperature, before the squall started was 36.4 degrees Celsius. By the time the rain ended four hours later, the temperature had dropped to 31.4 degrees Celsius. However, no damage to property or casualties were reported.