Over 100 killed as storm lashes India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh
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NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR – A violent storm bringing rain and hail scythed across India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, killing more than 100 people, rescue officials said on May 14, as the chief minister ordered relief funds to be distributed within 24 hours.
Storms are common in the northern state during the hot season from March to June, before monsoon rain brings respite, but a storm on May 13 injured 59 people, damaged 87 homes, and killed 114 livestock, authorities said.
At least 104 people died in about a dozen districts, the worst hit being the area around the Hindu pilgrimage city of Prayagraj, the office of the state’s relief commissioner, Hrishikesh Bhaskar Yashod, told Reuters.
“The entire area where we live turned black for around half an hour,” said Mr Ashok Rai, who lives in the coal-rich industrial town of Obra in the state’s Sonbhadra district.
“Strong winds lifted hoardings and signboards and thick coal dust from the ground and hurled them around,” he added.
Television images showed trees and billboards uprooted by gusts of wind in the storm on May 13, with some crashing into cars amid clouds of dust and debris that knocked down wooden furniture at roadside stalls.
Some of the fatalities were attributed to falling trees and collapsing walls of homes, a state relief official told Reuters.
The chief minister of the state, governed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, had directed officials to assist survivors and distribute financial aid within 24 hours, the authorities said. REUTERS
