Over 60 people have been killed due to lightning strikes this year in parts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bengal. Lighting kills 2000-2500 people every year and is the largest cause of accidental deaths due to natural causes. This number could increase by *12% with every 1 degree increase in global temperatures. The number of lightning strikes in India is expected to increase by 10-25% with coastal areas being most affected. It’s the least studied natural phenomena with only one team at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune tracking them. Over the last 2 decades, lightning strikes have been increasing especially near the Himalayan foothills. People are struck by ‘ground currents’, which means that the electrical energy spreads for some distance after hitting a large object (such as a tree). Since water is a good conductor of electricity, many people get affected while standing in flooded fields attending to their crops. Predicting a thunderstorm or lightning strike at an exact location is not possible yet. So it is advisable to move indoors during a thunderstorm and avoid touching wires or electrical appliances.
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