Rodalla Pentaiah did not anticipate his wife’s death when he left her at the family’s farm on Tuesday. It was a warm morning, made pleasant by the low-pressure conditions that brought some moisture from the east, conditions perfect for a day of weed-removal to prepare the land for sowing in Shamshabad.
Rodalla Bhargavi, 32, was at work with a family member Sunitha on the farm when the sky turned slightly overcast two hours post noon. Unperturbed, given that it is mid-summer in April, the duo continued work. At around 2.50 p.m. they were struck by lightning. Bhargavi, whose heart and other organs burnt, died immediately while Sunitha suffered grievous injuries but survived the strike on that day.
She succumbed on Thursday while being treated. “I had no inkling that a thunderstorm in summer could kill. Else, I would have asked my wife Bhargavi to take shelter indoors,” laments Pentaiah, who has two children to care for. Khavaguda, where the deaths occurred, had not heard or seen lighting strike in two decades. After Tuesday’s incident, the village of 5,000 is now scared to step outdoor, he said.
Mainly associated with monsoon, lightning, Meteorologist say, during summer can be deadly. “Warmer air and high moisture content in summer facilitates formation of high altitude charged clouds,” says Dr. Y.K. Reddy of IMD Hyderabad. “The intensity of thunderstorms in summer is higher than in monsoon.”
Soaring summer temperature is often accompanied by heat wave warnings, reports of deaths due to heat stroke and tips to survive record maximums. Studies done in the past show lightning killed more people than heat and cold waves across the country but its risk of causing death is not discussed.
According to National Crime Records Bureau, 122 people died of lightning in Telangana and AP in 2014; excluding major disasters like the 2001 earthquake, lightning killed 34 per cent of all who died due to natural calamities between 2001 and 2012 in India.
Though Telugu speaking States see fewer deaths compared to west and central India, lightning remains the second biggest natural killer after heat wave.
At least three people have reportedly been killed by lightning strikes in the last two weeks in Ranga Reddy district alone.
The deadly strike that killed Bhargavi and Sunitha, also killed another 15-year-old in a village near Khavaguda, Pentaiah informs. “In Shabad mandal, we heard cattle were also killed by lightning strikes.
The one that struck our field was deafening and there was nothing we could do,” he added.
