ND : Lightning and thunder kills people in Jharkhand - India

8 deaths and 3 more casualties were recorded in Jharkhand, last week, due to the lightning there in 2-3 districts, which happens there nearly every week.

October 2nd :

Lightning struck a hut in Kambo village, about 40 km from Ranchi city, and took away 5 lives, and 4 injuries, according to the news of local police.

October 4th :

On spot death of a 12 yr old boy and 25 more injuries were recorded due to lightning at Islamnagar village in Jharkhand's Lohardagga district at about 12 noon. Injured people were admitted to Lohardagga Sadar Hospital. 2007 & 2008 data :

* 2007 : >=150 people died including 5 of Ranchi.
* 2008 : >=70 people till now have died and more than 100 injured due to lightning.

The weather in Jharkhand is so nice for the local people as always, that it is preferring lightning over the deadly heat waves to kill the people, since the last few years, at an alarming rate. Mainly high elevated places , and people who makes their shelter beneath the trees during storm, are more prone to lightning attack. The lightning type, which is most frequent in the state, is Fork Lightning.

Lightning has been used as a natural instrument for measuring the electrical nature of the ground, according to the recent studies. Few modern studies tell that soils having higher conductivity viz. marsh, are more lightning-prone.

Jharkhand forest areas are also more prone to lightning because the trees act as conductors for the lightning to the ground. Earlier, Ranchi was named as "summer capital" of Bihar ( before Jharkhand was differentiated ). Now it has been captured by the regional ( Global) warming. According to prediction of a model, doubling of CO2 could increase the amount of lightning occurrences by 30–77% .

No of lightning deaths have been almost doubled in the past several years with additional injuries, and annual loss of peoperties and cattle. There is almost panic everytime the people living there sees magnificent flashes and thundering sound in the sky. Still no clear agreement is there, on the formation of lightning. It is believed still, that it’s largely due to collisions between ice crystals. Whatever be the thoughts, Lightning and Thunders are the most common outcomes of nearly each storm. With due course of time, the lightning can also be included with the huge disasters like earthquake and tsunami.