A groundbreaking study has delivered a shocking revelation: lightning, often dismissed as a routine monsoon peril, has now become India's most lethal natural disaster. Published in Springer's 'Natural Hazards' journal, the research attributes this grim milestone primarily to climate change and human-driven environmental degradation, which are fueling a dramatic increase in both lightning incidents and fatalities nationwide.
The Stark Numbers: A Two-Decade Death Toll
Conducted by a team of eight researchers, including scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the study analysed disaster mortality data over twenty years. It concluded that lightning strikes claimed a staggering 50,358 lives between 2002 and 2022. This figure represents a shocking 46% of all weather-related fatalities in India during this period, solidifying its position as the number one killer.
Heatwaves emerged as the second-deadliest hazard, responsible for over 20,000 deaths, while floods ranked third with more than 15,000 fatalities. The paper, titled 'The rising threat of lightning in India: mortality and diurnal patterns', was authored by C Jayasree, Alok Taori, Venkatesh Degala, Arun Suryavanshi, G Srinivasa Rao, and Prakash Chauhan from ISRO and its affiliates, along with Sanjay Srivastava of the Climate Resilient Observation Systems Promotion Council and Thansi Sadik of Cochin University.
Climate Change and Human Actions Fuel the Crisis
The researchers pinpoint a direct link between the rising threat and broader environmental shifts. They state that climate change, combined with anthropogenic factors like deforestation and increased atmospheric aerosols, is driving the frequency and intensity of lightning activity. "Warmer temperatures, higher moisture availability, and greater atmospheric instability are creating favourable conditions for more intense convective storms, particularly over central and eastern India," the study explains.
While lightning deaths are not new, the research highlights a marked escalation in strike frequency in recent years, paired with persistently high fatality levels. Data from the National Remote Sensing Centre's Lightning Detection Sensor Network (LDSN) shows every single Indian state recorded an increase in lightning incidents between 2019 and 2023, with many experiencing steep surges.
State-Wise Impact and Socio-Economic Factors
Madhya Pradesh was identified as the worst-hit state, with lightning occurrences skyrocketing from 2.8 lakh in 2019 to 16 lakh in 2023. West Bengal witnessed a rise from 56,420 to 6.2 lakh strikes, and Andhra Pradesh saw an increase from 65,502 to nearly five lakh. Even hill states like Himachal Pradesh experienced a four-fold jump, from 4,788 to 19,664 incidents.
In terms of the 20-year fatality count, Madhya Pradesh also led with 7,919 deaths (16%), followed by Odisha (6,012) and Maharashtra (5,569). Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal each reported over 3,000 lightning-related deaths.
The study crucially notes that death tolls do not always directly mirror strike numbers. Socio-economic conditions—including population density, outdoor work patterns, quality of shelter, access to early warnings, and documentation practices—play a decisive role. For instance, Odisha's high numbers partly reflect better documentation after the state introduced compensation for lightning deaths.
The research also uncovered dangerous timing patterns, with most fatalities occurring between 7 am and 6 pm, when people are most likely to be farming, constructing, fishing, or commuting.
An Urgent Call for Policy Action
The findings carry profound policy implications. The authors warn that "without targeted mitigation measures, fatalities are likely to rise further, turning a long-overlooked hazard into a growing national crisis." They point out a critical gap: despite being the single largest killer among natural hazards, lightning is not uniformly recognised as a major disaster under state disaster response frameworks.
The study calls for urgent investments in early warning systems, lightning protection infrastructure, and public awareness campaigns. A key recommendation is the formal inclusion of lightning under disaster response funding mechanisms to enable proactive mitigation and save thousands of lives annually.
