Extreme weather conditions led to the death of more than 1,565 people last year with thunderstorm and lightning claiming the lives of 815 of them, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday. Bihar lost the maximum number of 379 lives due to flood, thunderstorm, lightning and cold wave, followed by Uttar Pradesh (356), it said in a report.
The weather department said the number of deaths due to extreme weather events were based on media reports. Heavy rainfall and flood-related incidents reportedly claimed more than 600 lives in different parts of the country during pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, it said.
Of these, Assam lost 129 lives, Kerala 72, Telangana 61, Bihar 54, Maharashtra 50, Uttar Pradesh 48 and Himachal Pradesh 38. Of the 815 deaths due to thunderstorm and lightning,280 occurred in Bihar, 220 in Uttar Pradesh, 122 in Jharkhand, 72 in Madhya Pradesh, 23 in Maharashtra and 20 in Andhra Pradesh, according to the IMD report.
Cold wave conditions, which mainly prevailed over central parts of the country, especially in the month of January, caused about 150 deaths, the IMD said. Of these deaths, 88 were reported from Uttar Pradesh alone, 45 from Bihar and 16 from Jharkhand. The deaths in Bihar were on a single day on January 1.
According to the IMD, the year 2020 was the eighth warmest year since it started maintaining records in 1901. “However, this is substantially lower than the highest warming observed over India during 2016 (plus 0.71 degree Celsius), the IMD said.
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