Every day, on average, lightning kills nearly eight people in India. Not floods. Not cyclones. Not earthquakes. Lightning, a hazard most people still think of as random misfortune, has become the country’s most lethal natural force, claiming more lives each year than any other weather event.
New data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that lightning killed 2,825 people across India in 2024, a 10.4 percent rise from 2,560 deaths in 2023. It accounted for 35.7 percent of all accidental deaths attributed to forces of nature that year, far ahead of heat stroke, which killed 1,832 people, and floods, which took 361 lives, 833 from cold exposure, and 361 from floods.
The figures are not an anomaly. Over the past six years, lightning has killed more than 19,245 people across India. The annual toll has remained stubbornly high: 2,357 in 2018, 2,876 in 2019, 2,862 in 2020, 2,880 in 2021, 2,887 in 2022 and 2,558 in 2023. Scientists say it will get worse before it gets better.
The Numbers and What They Show
Heat and sun stroke killed 1,832 people, a 127.9 percent jump from 806 deaths in 2023, the sharpest single-year increase of any natural cause recorded in the report. Exposure to cold claimed 833 lives. Floods killed 361. Landslides took 351.
Lightning, despite a modest 10.4 percent rise from 2,560 deaths in 2023, remained the dominant killer by a wide margin.
The toll has stayed consistently high for years. Lightning killed 2,357 people in 2018, 2,876 in 2019, 2,862 in 2020, 2,880 in 2021, and 2,887 in 2022. Over six years, the cumulative death toll crossed 17,000. The number has never fallen below 2,300 in that period.
Of the 7,903 people who died from natural forces in 2024, the majority, 57.2 percent, were between 30 and 60 years old. These are working-age adults, the people most likely to be in fields, on construction sites, or tending livestock when storms arrive without warning.
Where Lightning Kills the Most
Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of lightning deaths in 2024 at 577, followed by Bihar at 360, Uttar Pradesh at 275, Odisha at 249, and Chhattisgarh at 241.
In smaller states, lightning accounted for nearly all deaths from natural forces. In Goa and Manipur, every single death from natural forces was caused by lightning. In Tamil Nadu, lightning caused 89.2 percent of such deaths. In West Bengal, 85.9 percent.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the Ganderbal lightning strike that killed 90 sheep and goats belonging to a nomadic Bakarwal family in May 2026 illustrated the reach of the hazard into high-altitude grazing areas where no shelter exists and no warning arrives in time.
Why Central India Bears the Heaviest Burden
Madhya Pradesh’s dominance in the lightning death toll is not accidental. Professor Manoranjan Mishra, a lightning expert at Fakir Mohan University in Odisha, points to a combination of industrial, environmental, and geographic factors. “Extensive mining, deforestation, and aerosols contribute to lightning activity in the region,” he said. “Combined with heating and moisture before the monsoon, this makes central India more vulnerable than the northeast or the south.”
Despite its relatively flat terrain, which typically produces fewer strikes than hilly regions, Madhya Pradesh has a population density of approximately 236 people per square kilometre. More people in open spaces means more deaths when storms arrive.
Dr. Sunita Verma, Associate Professor at Banaras Hindu University, identified two specific behaviours that drive the death toll in rural areas. “The high casualties in Madhya Pradesh are due to the lack of an effective early warning system and unsafe sheltering practices among the rural populace, particularly farmers,” she said. “Most fatalities occur when individuals seek refuge under trees during thunderstorms, not realising the increased risk.”
Dr. Verma said frequent cumulonimbus cloud formation over the region and the near-total absence of public awareness campaigns compound the problem. “The government needs robust mitigation strategies, including timely warnings and accessible educational campaigns, especially in rural and vulnerable areas,” she said.
Climate Change Is Making It Worse
Lightning activity in India has surged by nearly 400 percent between 2019-20 and 2024-25, according to researchers tracking the trend. Scientists link the increase directly to rising temperatures and higher atmospheric moisture.
A 2021 study published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics warned that climate change would make lightning both more frequent and more dangerous. Separate research suggests a 12 percent rise in lightning strikes for every one degree Celsius increase in global temperature. Pollution amplifies the effect, aerosols from urban and industrial centres increase electrical activity in the atmosphere above and around them.
Saurabh Kumar, a disaster management official in Madhya Pradesh, said the state uses alerts from the India Meteorological Department to warn residents. “We have implemented an alert system including SMS notifications and the Common Alerting Protocol. This ensures that district authorities and the public receive warnings promptly,” he said.
Mishra acknowledged those efforts but said they do not reach the people most at risk. “Many rural families do not own smartphones. We need physical outreach, community shelters, and education on recognising warning signs,” he said.
Not a National Disaster, and Experts Say That Matters
Despite killing more than 2,800 people a year, lightning is not classified as a national disaster in India. In February 2024, Biju Janata Dal Member of Parliament Manas Ranjan Mangaraj raised the issue in Parliament, urging the government to include lightning-related deaths under the State Disaster Response Fund. The Union government rejected the demand, stating that deaths could be prevented through awareness alone.
Mishra and other experts argue that the classification matters because it determines resources. “Declaring lightning a national disaster would bring more attention and funding to the issue,” Mishra said. He called for updated building codes to include affordable lightning protection, detailed district-level vulnerability maps, and community shelters in high-risk rural areas.
International models exist. In South Africa, repurposed cargo containers serve as low-cost lightning-safe shelters in rural communities. Public awareness campaigns built around the slogan “When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors” have reduced casualties in several countries.
In India, Odisha began offering compensation to victims’ families and saw an improvement in the accuracy of death recording as a result. Better data, officials said, helps design better responses. It does not, by itself, reduce the toll.
“We need to reach the last mile, the farmers, the grazers, the outdoor workers who are most at risk,” Mishra said. “Without that, the numbers will continue to rise.”
Ground Report previously reported on the impact of lightning strikes in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, highlighting the administration’s inaction.
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