Mumbai Five people, including a couple, have died after being struck by lightning in rural areas during good rains after a long drought in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region. The district administration team is surveying the rural areas on Friday.
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar District Divisional Commissioner said on Friday that 31 revenue divisions of five districts of Marathwada recorded more than 65 mm of rain in a day on Thursday.
The highest rainfall of 126 mm was recorded in Jari revenue division of Parbhani district. After this, 112.5 mm rainfall was recorded in Sirsala of Parli tehsil of Beed district and 111.5 mm rainfall was recorded in Pedgaon of Parbhani.
Lightning struck three people who were standing under a tree to save themselves from the rain in Wahulkheda village of Kannada tehsil of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district. Hamida Syed, Taslim Syed and Almira Syed died in the accident.
Hafiz Syed, Anisa Syed and Farzana Syed have been injured and are undergoing treatment. Another incident took place in Dahigaon of Silod tehsil. Here, farmer Manohar Dudhe and his wife Parvatabai, who were staying in a hut to escape the heavy rain, were struck by lightning.
Both died on the spot. His son Pandharinath Dudhe has been injured and is undergoing treatment. After a long drought, all eight districts of Marathwada received rain on Thursday. Average rainfall recorded in the districts ranged between 5.4 mm to 41.8 mm.
The average estimated rainfall in Marathwada during the monsoon season is 679.5 mm. So far the area has received 423.3 mm rainfall, which is 62.3 percent of the expected rainfall.
Thus, there is still 37.7 percent rainfall deficiency in the area. More than 65 mm rainfall was recorded in 31 revenue divisions of Beed, Latur, Nanded, Parbhani and Hingoli districts on Thursday.