LUCKNOW - A powerful dust and rain storm demolished homes and downed power lines in northern India, killing at least 14 people, an official said Thursday, a week after another unseasonable storm caused deaths and destruction in the same region.
The storm with winds blowing up to 100 kilometers (60 miles) per hour swept western parts of Uttar Pradesh state on Wednesday night, toppling trees and demolishing dozens of mud and brick homes, said Avanish Awasthi, a state government official. Uprooted electric poles and downed wires plunged several villages and towns into darkness. In addition to the deaths, 25 people were injured.
The storm also hit New Delhi and parts of northern Himachal Pradesh and western Rajasthan states, but with weaker winds and no immediate reports of casualties. The India Meteorological Department said the stormy conditions were subsiding in northern India.
On Wednesday night, four people died in Etawah district, three each in Mathura and Aligarh districts and one each in Agra, Aligarh, Kanpur and Firozabad towns in Uttar Pradesh state, Ujjawal Kumar, another state government official, said.
Indian children who were injured in a wall collapse during a powerful dust and rain storm Wednesday mourn the death of their relative who was killed in the incident in Khandauli village near Agra, India, Thursday, May 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Pawan Sharma)
A similar unseasonal powerful dust storm and thundershowers a week ago left more than 120 people dead and another 200 injured in five Indian states. Seventy-three of them died in the worst-hit northern Uttar Pradesh state alone.
The monsoon season is nearly six weeks away in India.
Indian women sit as they mourn the death of child who died in a wall collapse during a powerful dust and rain storm Wednesday in Khandauli village near Agra, India, Thursday, May 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Pawan Sharma)
N. N. Srivastava, another Uttar Pradesh state official, said the storms have affected the lives of more than 100 million residents who also lost cattle and crops. Schools and colleges were closed in several districts, he said.