36 people died due to heavy rains and lightning in India

 At least 36 people have been killed in the past 24 hours due to heavy rains in northern India, 12 of them due to lightning strikes.

According to the French news agency AFP, authorities in India have said that they have issued a warning of more heavy rains in the coming days.

Relief Commissioner Ranveer Prasad said that around 24 people were killed when houses collapsed during heavy rains in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

15-year-old Muhammad Usman was on his friend's rooftop in Prayagraj city on Friday evening when he was struck by lightning, killing him on the spot.

His accomplice Aznan was injured and is undergoing treatment in hospital.

Muhammad Usman's father Muhammad Ayub said that "as soon as he stepped on the roof, lightning struck him and my son was killed."

Officials said that 39 people have been killed by lightning in the state in the last five days.

Lightning strikes are common in India during the monsoon, which lasts from June to September.

Col. Sanjay Srivastava, whose organization Lightning India Resilient India works with the Meteorological Department, said, 'Deforestation, depletion of water resources and pollution all contribute to climate change which leads to more lightning. '

"A 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degree Fahrenheit) increase in temperature increases lightning strikes 12-fold," says Sunita Narayan, director general of the Center for Science and Environment.

During the last one year, there has been a 34% increase in the number of lightning strikes in India, leading to an increase in the number of deaths.

According to Colonel Sanjay Srivastava, 1,489 deaths due to lightning strikes were recorded in India in 2016, while this number increased to 2,869 in 2021.