12 killed as thunderstorm andlightning lash parts of Bengal

Kolkata:
At least 12 people were killed in thunderstorm and lightning in West Bengal on Monday evening, even as the India Meteorological Department on Tuesday issued a warning of more thunderstorms in the next few days in many districts in the eastern state.
While five persons were killed in East Burdwan district, two each were killed in West Midnapore and Purulia. In Nadia, two persons died due to wall collapses and one person was killed in South 24 Parganas after an uprooted tree fell on him.
“Our district administrations everywhere have been working on disaster management mode round the clock and are taking actions to provide relief and ex gratia as per guidelines. My sincere condolences to the bereaved families of the 12 fellow citizens of Bengal,” chief minister Mamata Banerjee wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
A cyclonic circulation has developed over neighbouring Bangladesh and a second one is active over Madhya Pradesh. A low pressure area has also developed from over Jharkhand to Rajasthan, the weather bureau said.
“These systems are sucking in moisture from the Bay of Bengal and triggering thunderstorms and squalls. More such activities are expected over the next few days,” an official of the regional weather office in Kolkata said, declining to be named.
The bureau forecast heavy rain, thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds likely to hit the districts of Jhargram, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, South 24 Parganas, Bankura, Purulia, Birbhum and North 24 Parganas till around May 11. The districts in northern Bengal are also expected to see thunderstorms.
Most of the districts in southern Bengal were reeling under severe heatwave conditions till last week. On April 30, the day temperature at Kalaikunda in West Midnapore district had touched 47.2 degrees Celsius, which was 10.4 degrees above normal. The day temperature in Kolkata touched 43 degrees. It was the second highest April temperature recorded in the city in 70 years.
In the first week of April, thunderstorms killed five in northern Bengal and left around 300 injured. Several houses were damaged as well.