76 killed in India storms

Thunderstorms and rains lashed four states of India leaving at least 76 people dead and nearly hundreds injured on Sunday night, officials said today.

Fifty one people were killed and 83 injured in the thunderstorm that hit different parts of northern state of Uttar Pradesh, our New Delhi correspondent reports quoting Principal Secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi. 

Around 121 mud-built houses were also flattened by the storm that was packed with a wind speed of 70km per hour.

At least 12 people were killed, six of them by lightning, and over 15 injured in different districts of West Bengal state, officials of National Disaster Management Authority and the state said.

Nine people were struck dead by lightning and three injured in Andhra Pradesh in southern India, NDMA officials said.

At least four persons were killed and more than 18 injured in Delhi after a squall and dust storm with a wind speed of up to 109 kmph tore through the Indian capital city and neighbouring areas.

The latest spell of thunderstorms, rains and lightning came nearly two weeks after 134 people killed and over 400 injured in UP, Rajasthan, Telangana, Utttarakhand and Punjab states on May 2-3. UP was the worst affected, accounting for 80 deaths, most of them in Agra district in the western part of the state.

The Indian met department has forecast more thunderstorms across north-west India over the next two to three days because of several weather phenomena, including a trough over Jammu and Kashmir state and in Haryana state in northern India.

Sunday night's storm affected flight operations for two hours and rail and metro operations for an hour in Delhi. Flight About 70 flights were diverted from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, an airport spokesperson said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed sadness over and asked officials to provide all possible assistance to those affected.