Death toll from 2 days of punishing storms rises, Taj Mahal sustains damage, and there is no respite in sight for the weekend
NEW DELHI — Two days of high winds and heavy rainfall have left more than 120 people dead in northern India, and Indian meteorological officials warned Friday that it wasn’t over yet. A new spell of thunderstorms and gusty winds were expected to wallop north and central Indian states well into the weekend.
Officials issued a specific warning for parts of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan states, which could see intense weather later on Friday. Uttar Pradesh has been worst affected so far with 73 deaths caused by the storms in the last two days.
The state’s Agra district, where the iconic Taj Mahal is located, was put on a severe weather alert until Monday. One of the Taj Mahal’s minarets and two wooden doors have been damaged and several trees in the monument’s grounds were uprooted by the wind on Thursday night.
Hospitals and emergency services were put on standby to deal with new casualties.
A dust storm and heavy rain in Agra on Wednesday night killed 44 people, many of whom died when the roofs of their homes collapsed on them as they slept. About 14 deaths in Andhra Pradesh state were reported due to lightning strikes.
India’s Home Ministry on Friday confirmed 124 people had lost their lives due to the storms across five states in the two days. In addition to the 73 deaths in Uttar Pradesh, 35 people have been killed in Rajasthan, eight in Telangana, six in Uttarakhand and two in Punjab. Nearly 200 people have also been injured across the states.
The severe weather, which has struck unusually early this year, has also inflicted heavy damage on crops, especially in the green belts of Uttar Pradesh.
The high winds have snapped power lines in several parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. More than 1,000 villages were without electricity on Friday, and had been for two days.
