Lightning strikes in Odisha kill 11

Eleven people were killed as lightning struck them in Odisha on Sunday while landslides and floods triggered by heavy rains continued to wreak havoc in many parts of the country killing several people.

In Odisha, the flood toll rose to seven with the death of three more persons in Jajpur district while lightning strikes in Bhadrak, Balasore and Kendrapara districts claimed the lives of 11 people and left around eight injured.

According to an official, while five died in Bhadrak, three each were killed in Balasore and in Kendrapara districts.

However, in a major respite to the people in Kendrapara and Jajpur districts, water level in the Brahmani river has receded at Jenapur.

The water level of Kharasrota river is showing a receding trend near Aul in Kendrapara district. The flood situation in Sundargarh district has also improved considerably with the waters of Brahmani, Ib and Koel rivers receding.

The flood-like situation in the southwestern districts of Rajasthan too has started to improve as the water showed receding trend, even as the death toll touched 17 since July 22.

A body was fished out from a swollen canal in Sumperpur and two children drowned in a pond in Marwar Junction of Pali district.

As many as 55 people were rescued from different villages in Barmer. Relief and rescue operations at all affected districts are being carried out by the Army, NDRF, SDRF and the respective district administrations, an official said.

Heavy rains lashed parts of Jodhpur division while light to moderate rainfall was witnessed in Jaipur, Udaipur, Ajmer divisions and at isolated places in Bharatpur, Kota and Bikaner divisions.

In the eastern part of the state, Mount Abu recorded 5 cm of rains followed by 4 cm each in Sirohi, Pindwara and Sheoganj of Sirohi district. In west Rajasthan, Sinderi in Barmer district recorded 11 cm of rains followed by 10 cm at Rohat, 9 cm in Marwar Junction and 8 cm each in Sedwa of Pali district.

Four persons, including a father-son duo, have been killed in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh where several roads are blocked due to landslides, an official said.

In Chamba district, a man and his five-year-old son were killed when a boulder fell on their motorcycle. In Kangra district, a 12-year-old boy was swept away in a flash flood while a tourist from Jalandhar drowned in the swollen Beas river near the Kaleshwar temple.

Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, coastal Karnataka and eastern Uttar Pradesh also received rains.