‘Disastrous’ weather events claimed 1,428 lives in the country in 2018, of which 842 people died due to flood and heavy rainfall, the government said on Friday.
Of the 842, 112 people died due to floods and heavy rains during Cyclone Gaja that hit Tamil Nadu and Cyclone Titli that battered the Odisha coast, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey said in a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha. Uttar Pradesh recorded 590 deaths due to “disastrous” weather events, he said.
Mr. Choubey was standing in for Earth Sciences Minister Harsh Vardhan, who is attending the G20 Summit. Around 440 people died due to thunderstorm, dust storm and lightning in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan. Nearly 135 people died due to cold wave in Uttar Pradesh. Eleven people died due to snow avalanche in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.
