‘Worrying’ rise in deadly lightning strikes in India: scientists

NEW DELHI: Climate change is fueling an alarming rise in deadly lightning strikes in India, killing nearly 1,900 people a year in the world’s most populous country, scientists warn.

Lightning caused a staggering 101,309 deaths between 1967 and 2020, with a sharp increase between 2010 and 2020, a team of researchers led by Fakir Mohan University in the eastern state of Odisha said.

“The results indicate a steady increase in lightning activity in India, placing it as a major killer among natural disasters caused by climate change,” it said.

While the report looked at data on fatalities, not the number of strikes, it said “lightning activity in India is becoming increasingly unpredictable”.

The data showed that the average annual death per Indian state rose from 38 in the period 1967 to 2002, to 61 from 2003 to 2020 – a period when the country’s population also grew rapidly to 1.4 billion people.

Lightning is common in India during the June-September monsoons, which are vital for replenishing regional water supplies.

But scientists say their frequency is increasing due to rising global temperatures, unleashing a cascade of extreme weather events.

Higher air temperatures create more water vapor, which, after cooling at altitude, creates electrical charges that trigger lightning.

India’s high death toll is also due to ineffective early warning systems and a lack of information on how to reduce the risk, added the report, published in the international journal Environment, Development and Sustainability.

Mass deaths from a single strike are common, such as when farmers take shelter in groups from the rain under a tree.

The report said the data on recorded lightning deaths indicated “an increasing trend, with the last two decades showing the largest increase”, calling it a “worrying development”.

The “upward trend in climate extremes is likely to worsen the situation”, he added, with “an urgent need” for policy changes to mitigate the impacts.