At least 19 people have lost their lives while 48 were injured when thunderstorm struck 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday evening.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered immediate distribution of relief to the affected families, including Rs 4 lakh each to the next of the kin of the deceased.
He said that within 48 hours, survey will be carried out on the loss of crops, and facilities provided for distributing insurance claims of the farmers.
The Chief Minister has rushed the in-charge ministers Atul Garg to Etah, Suresh Pasi to Kasganj, Girish Yadav to Mainpuri, Swami Prasad Maurya to Badaun, Dr Mahendra Singh to Moradabad and Chetan Chauhan to Farrukahbad to take stock of the situation.
The ministers will submit reports on loss of lives, damage to property to Mr Adityanath.
Official sources here on Friday said six deaths were reported from Mainpuri where 41 people were also injured. Most of the deaths occurred due to lightning, uprooting of trees and incidents of house collapse. Three deaths each were also reported from Etah and Kasganj while one each died in Moradabad, Badaun, Pilibhit, Mathura, Kannauj, Sambhal and Ghaziabad. Several hectares of standing crops have been damaged in the thunderstorm.
The thunderstorm also struck the state capital on late Thursday night leading to major disruption of power in the city.
