Over 5,000 were struck by lightning in the state of Odisha in 30 minutes

Several parts of Odisha witnessed a fresh spell of rainfall and thunderstorm activities accompanied by lightning and gusty surface wind today under the influence of a western disturbance.

Over 5000 lightning strikes were reported in Basudevpur area of Bhadrak district in just 30 minutes on Wednesday. This was informed by IMD Bhubaneswar scientist Umasankar Das.

Taking to his Twitter handle, Das wrote, “More than 5000 lightning strikes today just in 30 minutes near Basudevpur of Bhadrak. It is beyond your imagination the vulnerability associated with thunderclouds and how fatal it could be!”

He further stated that at least five people were killed because of the severe lightning event.

“As per local source, unfortunately 5 people died because of this severe lightning event,” he wrote.

In another tweet, he wrote, “Lightning flashes & Strokes – The term lightning flash is used to describe the entire discharge, which takes on the order of 0.2 seconds. But a flash is usually made up of several shorter discharges which last less than a millisecond and which repeat rapidly enough that the eye cannot resolve the multiple events.” (sic)

“These individual discharges are called strokes. Sometimes, the strokes are separated enough in time for the eve to resolve them, and the lightning appears to flicker,” his tweet read. (sic)

Meanwhile, the IMD has forecast heavy rainfall in parts of Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Cuttack, Dhenkanal and other districts. As per the IMD, Odisha is likely to witness thunderstorm activity with lightning and gusty winds under the influence of western disturbance.