Bhubaneshwar: A staggering 61,000 lightning strikes occurred in about two hours in Odisha, particularly in the capital region, on Saturday, leaving 12 people dead and 14 injured.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted extreme weather conditions in Odisha till September.
Bhubaneswar and its neighbourhood were at the receiving end of the lightning bolts which continued uninterrupted during the afternoon thundershower activities.
The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, informed that the cloud-to-cloud lightning till 5.30 pm stood at 36,597 whereas the cloud-to-ground strikes were recorded at a scary 25,753.
“We have received information about suspected lightning deaths in four to five places and it is being verified. All district emergency officers have been asked to immediately submit reports,” Special Relief Commissioner Satyabrata Sahu said.
Weather scientists said these unusual and extreme lightning activities occur when the monsoon returns to normalcy after a long break. Collision of cold and warm air masses creates the perfect conditions for such unprecedented lightning events, they said.
A lightning flash is used to describe the entire discharge. It is made up of several shorter discharges which last less than a millisecond, said a scientist at Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre Umasankar Das.
A cyclonic circulation active over the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a low-pressure area in the next 48 hours due to which widespread rainfall is expected across Odisha.