Patna, May 08: At least 38 people were reportedly killed in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh on Friday following a thunder squall and rain. Bihar was worse hit with 24 people dying. In Rohtas district alone, 14 people died, and in Gaya seven.
In the middle of April, more than 90 people died in Bihar, also because of a storm. Power supply was disrupted, and so was BSNL connectivity in large parts of Bihar on Friday morning. Rail and road traffic was blocked in some areas.
Patna, Chapra, Muzaffarpur, Jehanabad, Darbhanga, Motihari and Kaimur are the other districts that bore the brunt of the storm. There were reports of a lady in Jehanabad being struck by a thunderbolt while collecting mangoes. In the Mughalsarai-Gaya division, four bogies of the goods train were derailed.
Nine people, including three children, were killed in Jaunpur district. The Jaunpur district administration has reportedly announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for the family of each person killed. The squall, which continued for nearly an hour, led to water-logging outside Lal Bahadur Shastri airport in Varanasi.
—-Agencies