While a sudden change in weather brought respite for people from the scorching heat in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on Friday, lightning strikes and hailstorms in Bihar have claimed 61 lives in the last 24 hours, officials said. At least 20 flights were diverted in Delhi due to inclement weather conditions even as outage was reported from different areas in the national capital.
In Bihar, 39 people died due to hailstorms and rain-related incidents, while lightning strikes claimed 22 lives.
Twenty-five deaths had been reported on Thursday evening, and the death toll mounted to 61 after collation of data from various Bihar districts, they said.
A report said three persons were injured when a scaffolding of an under-construction building in Chander Vihar in trans-Yamuna area of Delhi crashed due to gusty winds.
In Bihar, Nalanda reported the highest number of fatalities at 23, followed by Bhojpur (six), Siwan, Gaya, Patna and Sheikhpura (four each), Jamui (three) and Jehanabad (two). Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur, Arwal, Darbhanga, Begusarai, Saharsa, Katihar, Lakhisarai, Nawada and Bhagalpur districts reported one death each.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar offered condolences over the deaths and announced ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased.
In the national capital, the maximum temperature settled at 35.8 degrees Celsius, marking a dip of 3.8 notches from Thursday’s high of 39.6 degrees Celsius.
Strong dust storms and gusty winds hit Delhi this evening, prompting the MeT department to warn of adverse weather conditions in the coming hours and issue an "orange" alert for Delhi-NCR.
At least 20 flights were diverted at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here due to inclement weather.
"Due to inclement weather conditions in Delhi, some of the flights at Delhi Airport are impacted. Passengers are advised to contact their respective airlines for the latest flight updates," airport operator DIAL said in a post on ‘X’ at 7.15pm.
IndiGo said Delhi and Jaipur are experiencing a dust storm, affecting takeoffs and landings and potentially causing air traffic congestion. This may lead to delays or diversions, the operator said in the post.
While two weather stations - Ridge and Ayanagar — in Delhi on Thursday recorded heatwave conditions with temperatures settling above 40 degrees Celsius, on Friday all monitoring stations in the city recorded a high below the 40-degree mark.
The IMD has predicted thunderstorms with rain in Delhi on Saturday.
In Uttar Pradesh, light rain accompanied by strong winds in several districts of the western part of the state on Friday evening brought a much-needed relief from the recent spell of intense heat.
In Moradabad, five students from a private university sustained injuries after being struck by lightning.
The university’s media in-charge MP Singh said, "Five male students pursuing various graduate programmes were on way back to their hostel on Thursday night when it started raining. Seeking shelter under a tree, the students were unfortunately struck by lightning."
The sudden change in weather patterns brought considerable relief from scorching heat across the state as the maximum daytime temperature recorded an average drop of approximately five degrees Celsius.
State capital Lucknow recorded a high of 32.9 degrees, 4.3 notches below the normal. Fatehpur and Banda recorded the highest maximum in the State at 40.6 degrees each.
The Meteorological Department reported that a number of areas, including Saharanpur, Moradabad and Hapur, witnessed lightning and hailstorms in isolated pockets during the intervening night of April 10 and 11.
In Uttarakhand, heavy rain lashed the Nandprayag area of Chamoli district following which debris generated by the reconstruction of a national highway gushed into several shops and hotels, damaging goods kept inside them, officials said.
While advising people to stay indoors, secure windows and doors, and avoid unnecessary travel, the IMD also outlined possible impacts of the severe weather, cautioning that strong winds and hail may damage plantations, horticulture, and standing crops. A report from Shimla said light to moderate rains lashed several parts of Himachal Pradesh while high altitude tribal areas received light snowfall on Friday.
Dharamshala was the wettest with 37mm rain, followed by Dalhousie at 21mm, Gohar at 19.0mm, Kangra at 14.2mm, Pandoh at 14.0mm, Paonta Sahib at 13.6mm, Karsog at 13.1mm, Mandi at 8.0mm, Sangla at 7.4 mm, Shimla at 7mm and Guler at 5.6 mm.
Shimla, Sundernagar, Jubberhatti, Jot, and Kangra saw thunderstorms while heat wave conditions prevailed in Sundernagar and Dharamshala, and severe heat waves in Bhuntar, the local MeT station said.
The Lahaul and Spiti Police has asked commuters to assess the weather conditions before travelling as snowfall was witnessed at various places in the district.
The MeT station has issued ‘yellow’ warning of thunderstorm accompanied with lightning at isolated places in Chamba, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla and Sirmaur on April 12 and predicted dry weather in the state till April 17.
The maximum and minimum temperatures dropped marginally and Una was the hottest with 36.2 degrees while Keylong was the coldest with a low of 2.0 degrees.
With fresh rains, the monthly rain deficit in April has reduced from 99 to 90 per cent and seasonal rainfall deficit from March 1 to April 11 was 43 per cent.
