New Delhi: Extreme weather conditions led to the death of more than 1,565 people last year. Thunderstorm and lightning claimed the lives of 815 people, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Monday.
Bihar lost the maximum number of 379 lives due to flood, thunderstorm, lightning and cold wave. It was followed by Uttar Pradesh with 356 deaths, the IMD said in a report.
The weather department said the number of deaths due to extreme weather events was based on media reports.
Heavy rainfall and flood-related incidents reportedly claimed more than 600 lives in different parts of India during pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, it said.
Of these, Assam lost 129 lives, Kerala 72, Telangana 61, Bihar 54, Maharashtra 50, Uttar Pradesh 48 and Himachal Pradesh 38.
Of the 815 deaths due to thunderstorm and lightning the most (280) occurred in Bihar. It was followed by Uttar Pradesh (220), Jharkhand (122), Madhya Pradesh (72), Maharashtra (23) and Andhra Pradesh (20), according to the IMD report.
Cold wave conditions, which mainly prevailed over central parts of India, especially in the month of January, caused about 150 deaths. Of these deaths, 88 were reported from Uttar Pradesh alone, 45 from Bihar and 16 from Jharkhand. The deaths in Bihar were on a single day January 1.
According to the IMD, the year 2020 was the eighth warmest year since it started maintaining records in 1901. “However, this is substantially lower than the highest warming observed over India during 2016 (plus 0.71 degree Celsius),” the IMD said.