Sudden dust storms in northern India have killed over 120 people

• Over 125 dead and 160 injured.
• Dust storm engulfs the northern states of UP, Punjab Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.
  
• Most deaths due to lightning strikes and collapsing houses.

Severe dust storm wreaked havoc in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent on Wednesday (2 May), causing massive destruction. According to reports, the current death toll stands at 125, while more than 160 have been injured. Most of the deaths were due to lightning strikes and houses collapsing in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

Officials said that they had been taken aback by the ferocity of the storms and the Indian Meteorological department expects more storms to hit before the weekend. The latest reports can be viewed here.

Impact on Humans

• High speed winds and lightning wreaked havoc in many villages. The destruction brought down walls, claimed many lives and left numerous injured.
• A spokesperson for the Uttar Pradesh relief commissioner's office told AFP that the death toll was the highest from such storms in the last twenty years.
• The storm hit at night in many areas where houses built with mud collapsed and residents who were asleep at the time were trapped and killed.

• Damage was caused in some areas by flying debris as speeds in some areas reached 100 miles per hour.

• According to a report, 200 to 300 electric poles fell due to the raging winds of the storm.
• Agra was the worst hit place in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. 43 died and 51 were injured.
• Alwar, Rajasthan city reported 36 deaths whereas 19 were killed in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan.

Impact on environment and animals

• The dust storm enveloped Delhi on Wednesday evening. This further degraded the air quality of the India’s capital city with PM2.5 measured at 152 and PM10 at 106, which is four times the safe limit. This is the second dust storm to hit Delhi in just a few weeks, a report said.
• A huge number of birds were found dead in Fatehabad after dust storms hit the area, ANI UP tweeted.