907 killed by lightning as extreme weather surges in India
Scientists blame climate change for the high death toll associated with extreme weather events such as heatwaves and lightning strikes in India this year, and government data showed on Wednesday.
There were 27 heatwaves, and lightning strikes rose 111 times, killing 907 people, the Ministry of Earth Sciences reported.
The number of thunderstorms increased five-fold.
It’s the most since 2019’s 3,017 deaths due to such events. The data showed 78% of deaths this year were caused by lightning, floods, and heavy rain.
During India’s monsoon season, temperatures have risen this century, and there may be more heatwaves in the future, the government said in August. However, its per-capita emissions are much lower than many developed countries, making it the world’s third biggest polluter.
It was the hottest March in more than a century in the country of nearly 1.4 billion, and April and May were unusually warm.
Over 166,000 people died from heatwaves from 1998-2017, says the World Health Organization. There will be about 250,000 more deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea, and heat stress because of climate change between 2030 and 2050.
Pakistan’s western neighbor was hit by devastating floods this year that covered a third of the country, killed more than 1,500 people, and affected millions.
