India witnesses 907 lightning-strike deaths as its extreme weather events surge in 2022

In a revelation that would shock environmentalists, India saw a major jump in extreme weather events in 2022 in terms of heatwaves and lightning strikes and deaths caused by them reached their highest in three years, the country's government data showed on Wednesday (7), Reuters reported.

Scientists have blamed climate change for such events.

The ministry of earth sciences said in a report presented to the parliament that there were almost eight times as many heatwaves -- 27 in all -- while lightning strikes went by over 111 times, killing 907 people.

Thunderstorms also went by more than five times to 240, the data showed.

The toll of 2,183 deaths caused this year due to the extreme weather conditions till November were the highest since 2019, when the toll was recorded at 3,017.

The data also said that lightning and floods and heavy rain caused 78 per cent of the deaths in the current year.

Temperatures during India's monsoon season have gone up in this century and the country could see frequent heatwaves in future, the government said in August. The country of 1.4 billion people experienced its hottest March in more than a century this year while temperatures were unusually high in April and May. Climate change has been mainly held responsible for such occurrences.

Pakistan, India's western neighbour, saw devastating floods this year that covered a third of the country and killed nearly 1,700 people while impacting millions.