At least 111 dead as high winds and dust storms sweep across Uttar Pradesh.

At least 111 people have died and another 59 have been injured as high winds and dust storms swept across Uttar Pradesh State in northern India on Wednesday 13 May 2026. The storms also damaged at least 227 homes and killed at least 200 head of livestock. Most of the injuries and fatalities have been attributed to falling trees, and in some cases walls. One man working on installing a metal roof on a warehouse building was thrown 15 m into the air when the winds tore the roof away, but miraculously survived. 

Roofing contractor Nanhe Miyan was thrown more than 15 m into the air when a section of roof he was working on came away amid high winds in Uttar Pradesh on 13 May 2026, but escaped with minor injuries. Firstpost.

High winds and dust storms are common in Uttar Pradesh in the summer months of April, May and June, when high temperatures over the arid areas to the southwest, which include the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, the Cholistan Desert of the Punjab, and the Kharan Desert of Baluchistan, can reach 45-50°C, resulting in a hot dry wind known as the 'loo' which blows over the North Indian Plain. This combination of heat and dry winds has a desiccating effect, causing trees to lose their leaves and much of the vegetation of the area to dry out and die (before blooming again with the onset of the monsoon season). It can also be very harmful to Humans, with deaths from heatstroke most common at this time of year.

However, this week's storm was a more exceptional event, bringing with it winds of over 160 km per hour, as well as heavy rainfall, something not usually associated with the loo winds. This appears to have been brought about by the interplay between a the loo wind and two cool cyclonic systems, one of which was located over northern Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir, the other over Haryana and the northwestern part of Uttar Pradesh, according to the India Meteorological Department. The cyclonic systems had already been drawing in warm moist air from the Bay of Bengal, and when they encountered the loo winds, the moist air was forced upwards, rapidly forming cumulonimbus (thunderhead) clouds, while the dryer air wash pushed into a downdraught, leading to much higher wind speeds. 

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More than sixty dead in Indian heatwave.

More than sixty people have died in a heatwave affecting northern and central India this week. Sustained temperatures in excess of 45°C have been recorded across much of the region, with some areas experiencing peaks in excess of 50°C, although a record-breaking 52.9°C temperature recorded in Delhi on Wednesday 29 May 2024 has now been confirmed to have been erroneous; the correct temperature should have been a comparatively 'mild' 49.9°C.

A patient being treated for heatstroke in a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat State, this week. Reuters.

At least 23 of the people who have died are reported to have been election officials, obliged to remain at their posts, often outdoors in direct sunlight, throughout the day while polls are carried out. In Odisha State twenty-six people have died of suspected heat-related conditions, many of them truck-drivers who remained in hot vehicles. In Bihar State fourteen people are reported to have died of heat-related conditions, including ten polling officials. In Uttar Pradesh thirteen people have died of heat related conditions. Eight people have been confirmed to have died of heat-related conditions in Jharkhand, with more than 1300 others hospitalised. Four people are reported to have died of heat-related conditions in Rajasthan. 

Residents of Delhi queueing to collect water from a tanker this week. Getty Images.

Many areas of India, including Delhi are also suffering from extreme water-shortages at the moment, hampering people's efforts to keep hydrated in the extreme heat. The combination of extreme heat and drought has led to forest fires raging across parts of northern India and neighbouring Pakistan (where temperatures in excess of 52°C have been recorded in several places this week). The monsoon rains are reported to have arrived in Kerala on Friday 31 May, which may bring some relief to central parts of the country, though the heatwave in the north is predicted to continue for another week. This year's monsoon is also expected to be particularly severe, driven by the high temperatures, and will likely bring a new set of problems.

A forest fire in Uttarakhand on Wednesday 29 May 2024. Press Trust of India.

The high temperatures experienced in the past year have been linked to a combination of anthropogenic global warming, driven by emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, with an El Niño - Southern Oscillation climate system over the Pacific Ocean, a natural phenomenon which also tends to drive temperatures upwards. However, the El Niño system appears to have been weakening over the past months, with sea surface temperatures over the eastern equatorial Pacific actually being lower than the average for 1990-2020, while global temperatures have continued to rise, suggesting that the El Niño system may be playing as large a role in driving this year's high temperatures as previously assumed.

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Gavialis gangeticus: Gharials on the upper Ghaghara River, India.

Gharials, Gavialis gangeticus, are freshwater Crocodilians found only on the Indian Subcontinent. Modification of river systems by damming and water extraction has fragmented the Gharial population into a series of isolated subpopulations, leading to a steady decline in their available habitat and total number of Animals, for which reason Gharails are now considered to be Critically Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.

In 1976 the construction of a irrigation barrage on the Girwa–Kaudiyala Rivers led to the isolation of a population of Gharials on the Girwa River within the Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh, with the species disappearing from the Karnali River upstream of the sanctuary and the Ghaghara River downstream. The Girwa River population is monitored by the Katerniaghat Wildlife Division, with 72 individuals and 36 nests recorded in February 2020, but there is no regular monitoring of the Ghaghara River. The number of juvenile Gharials reaching adulthood in the Girwa River is surprisingly low, and it has been suggested that hatchlings might be being swept into the Ghaghara River when the gates of the barrage are opened in the monsoon season.

In a paper published in the journal Oryx on 22 December 2023, Gaurav Vashistha of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College at the University of Delhi, and the Gharial Conservation Programme, Vivek Ranjan of the Wildlife Institute of India, Devvrat Singh and Shantanu Ugemuge, also of the Gharial Conservation Programme, Akash Deep Badhawan of the Katerniaghat Wildlife Division, and Pulkit Gupta, again of the Gharial Conservation Programme, present the results of a survey of the upper stretch of the Ghaghara River, from the Girijapuri Barrage in Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary downstream to Chahlari Ghat.

Locations where Gharials, Gavialis gangeticus, were sighted during a survey of a 100 km stretch of the Ghaghara River, India, from Girijapuri Barrage to Chahlari Ghat. Vashistha et al. (2023).

The Ghaghara River carries 21% of the total volume of water entering the Ganga, making it the river's largest tributary. Water flow within the Ghaghara is controlled by the Girijapuri Barrage on the Girwa River and the Sharda Nagar Barrage on the Sharda River, both of which are opened three times a year. The opening of the barrages allows large quantities of sediment to be carried downstream, allowing the formation of braids in the Ghaghara River. Vashistha et al. surveyed a 100 km section of the river by boat from the Girijapuri Barrage to Chahlari Ghat between 9.00 am and 5.00 pm on 26 and 27 February 2023, travelling 50 km each day. 

Observed Gharials were recorded, and placed in four size classes based upon their estimated lengths, these being yearlings under 1 m in length, juveniles 1-2 m in length, subadults 2-3 m in length, and adults more than 3 m in length. Vashistha et al. also searched for spoor marks on the riverbanks.

Vashistha et al. observed 84 Gharials at 29 locations, the majority of which were young Animals less than 2 m in length, including 16 yearlings presumed to have hatched in 2022. No adult males (which can be identified by the presence of a nasal protuberance called a 'ghara') were observed, although three adult females had bulging abdomens, which is a possible sign of pregnancy. No trace was found of 40 tagged Gharials released into the river by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department in 2020, although a 2021 survey of the lower part of the river observed eight of these Animals.

A basking female Gharial, Gavialis gangeticus, on the Ghaghara River bank, with a bulging abdomen suggesting she could be pregnant. Vashistha et al. (2023).

Based upon the results of their survey and the survey of the lower part of the river carried out the year before, Vashistha et al. estimate that the Ghaghara River has a population of 258. This is almost four times as high as the estimated population of the Girwa River in Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary. Vashistha et al. believe that this confirms the hypothesis that Gharials are dispersing from the Girwa River into the Ghaghara when the barrage is open. The presence of three females with bulging abdomens suggests that they are breeding on the Ghaghara River, although this cannot be proved. Eight adult males were spotted during the survey of the lower river, and females are known to move some distance between seasons.

There are long stretches of undisturbed, free-flowing water on the Ghaghara River, with plenty of sandy banks suitable for nesting. The river is known to be a sink for Animals dispersing downstream from the Girwa and Kaudiyala rivers, and as well as a population of Gharials, is home to Endangered Ganges River Dolphins, Platanista gangetica, Vulnerable Indian Flapshell Turtles, Lissemys punctata, Indian Softshell Turtles, Nilssonia gangetica, and Indian Tent Turtles, Pangshura tentoria, as well as a wide range of aquatic Birds. 

Much of the suitable Gharial nesting habitat on the Girwa River has been degraded by vegetational succession, following a channel shift in 2010, although conservationists are currently working on a project to build artificial sand banks, in order to create more suitable nesting sites. The population of Gharials on the Ghaghara River is considered to be threatened by flow regulation on the barrages, development of riverbank environments for agriculture, and fishing activities on the river.

Vashistha et al. recomend that a system of monitoring is developed for Gharails on the Ghaghara River, as well as the development of a co-operative program involving government agencies and local communities to conserve these Animals on both protected and unprotected rivers in the region.

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Two ancient statues looted from Indian temple found in English garden.

Two of a group of statues looted from a temple in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in the 1970s have been found in a shed in an English garden. The statues, representing the Hindu goddesses Yogini Chamunda and Yogini Gomukhi, were sold to a salvage company by the woman who owned the property where they were found. That company them contacted Chris Marinello the founder of Art Recovery International, an organisation which specialises in finding stolen artworks, as part of a due diligence process before selling the statues. Marinello then contacted S Vijay Kapoor of the India Pride Project, which seeks the return to India of looted cultural objects. Kapoor was able to identify the statues of two of a group stolen from the Lokhari Temple, in the Banda District of Uttar Pradesh in the 1970s.

The statues of Yogini Chamunda and Yogini Gomukhi. Art Recovery International.

The term 'yogini' refers to female masters of the yogic arts, with sixty four divine yoginis worshipped as goddesses at yogini temples such as Lokhari; the term is slightly ambivalent as it applies both to the goddesses and adept worshippers, who were believed to be able to take on some of the goddesses powers by performing secret rituals before the statues. The goddesses were worshiped in circular enclosures, open to the sky because the yoginis were believed to commune with the stars at night. The Lokhari temple is thought to have been built in the tenth century AD, and to have contained twenty yogini statues, depicted as beautiful women with the heads of animals. In the 1970s the temple was targeted by a group of looters, who are believed to have operated out of Rajasthan and Mumbai, smuggling goods into the Europe via Switzerland. An unknown number of statues were stolen, with others being broken and the remaining unharmed statues subsequently removed and hidden by local villagers. The temple is now abandoned.

The statues of Yogini Chamunda and Yogini Gomukhi are now in the possession of the Indian High Commission in London, with plans for a formal hand-over ceremony on 15 August 2023 (Indian Independence Day). They will then be taken to the National Museum in New Delhi, where they will be displayed alongside two previously recovered Lokhari yoginis, one of which was recovered in Paris in 2013 and the other in England in December 2021.

A goar-headed yogini from the Lokhari Temple recovered in England in December 2021, here depicted in a Sotheby's Catalogue from 1988 (it has not been suggested that Sotheby's were aware the item was looted at the time). Art Recovery International/India Pride Project.

S Vijay Kapoor has suggested that, rather than being held in the National Museum in New Delhi, which is over 750 km from Lokhari, that the statues should be returned to the village itself, where the temple could be restored, and potentially become a source of tourism revenue for the local population, although this seems a long way from happening at the current time.

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Flooding and landslides kill at least twenty two people in northern India.

At least twenty two people have lost their lives in a series of flooding and landslide events across northern India, where this year's monsoon has brought 59% more rainfall so far this year than would be expected at by this date on an average year.

Six people have died in four separate incidents in Himachal Pradesh; three members of the same family died in when their house collapsed after being hit by a landslide. Two other people died in landslides in Kullu and Chamba districts. Also in Shimla, a young girl is reported to have died when a raft of debris caried by floodwaters struck her home; an elderly lady is reportedly still trapped beneath the debris of the building, with rescuers attempting to reach her. The state recorded 14 major landslides and 13 flash floods on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 July 2023. There are also reports of shops being swept away in the resort town of Manali, and of cars being washed away in several districts. Over 700 roads in Himachal Pradesh are currently closed, with flooding and landslips sweeping away many roads connecting remote communities to the outside world, and all schools and colleges will be closed on Monday and Tuesday as a precaution. The city of Solan recorded 135 mm of rain on Sunday 9 July, the highest ever rainfall recorded, breaking a previous record of 105 mm set in 1971. 

The Beas River in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, on Sunday 9 July 2023. Press Trust of India.

In Uttarakhand three people are known to have died and three are still missing after a landslide swept their jeep into the swollen Ganga River, while they were undertaking a pilgrimage. Five other people who were in the vehicle have been rescued. In another incident in the same state, a house collapse in Kashipur is reported to have killed two people and injured their granddaughter.

In Jammu and Kashmir two people are reported to have died when a landslide hit the bus they were travelling in in Doda District. Elsewhere in the state, a man was killed when his car was struck by a falling boulder in Ladakh, and two soldiers are reported to have drowned while attempting to cross a river in Poonch District.

Part of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Jammu and Kashmir swept away by a landslide. Press Trust of India.

In Haryana State a man is reported to have drowned in Gurugram District, while another man, reportedly his cousin, is still missing. 

In Uttar Pradesh, a 10-year-old girl is reported to have died when a tree fell onto the shack she was living in in Kaushambi District, while in Muzaffarnagar District a woman and her six-year-old daughter died when the roof of their home collapsed under the weight of water that had pooled there. In the city of Ballia two people died and three more were injured after being struck by lightning in separate incidents. 

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season, the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

While the monsoon always brings problems to India, this year's monsoon has produced an uneven distribution of rain, with the north of the country receiving 59% more rain than would usually be expected, while in the south, between 23% and 45% less rain than usual has fallen. This year an El Niño weather system has been developing over the South Pacific, something which usually tends to supress the Indian monsoon, something which may be happening in the south of the country, but northern India, Pakistan, and Nepal have all been suffering deadly floods, something which may be related to the rising global atmospheric temperatures.

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Leopard kills five-year-old boy in Uttar Pradesh, India.

A five-year-old boy has been killed by a Leopard in the Bijnor District of Uttar Pradesh on Monday 16 December 2019. The boy, idntified as Chetan was playing outside his house with his sister, Nishu, four, in the village of Prempuri when both children were attacked by the animal, which bit Nishu on the neck before carrying Chetan away. A search by local villagers was able to locate the boy the same day, but his partially eaten body was found on the following day. The was the latest in a series of Leopard attacks in the area, which have been linked by local people to a rising Leopard population. On Sunday 15 December another five-year-old boy, named Rohan, was attacked by a Leopard in the village of Akbarpur Chauganva, but was chased off by family members. On Tuesday 10 December a two-year-old boy was snatched from a Bullock cart in the village of Jamalpur Dhikali, although this animal was also driven off by family members. A further three attacks on children were recorded in Bijnor District in November. 

A Leopard with a Monkey kill in the Kabini National Park, India. Small Primates are an important food source for Leopards, which can lead to them attacking Humans. Wikimedia Commons.

Leopards are considered to be Vulnerable under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, with the Indian subspecies, Panthera pardus fusca, considered to be particularly vulnerable due to India's rapidly rising Human population, which has resulted in agriculture and other Human activities expanding into many former wilderness areas. For this reason the Indian Forest Service usually try to relocate Leopards that come into conflict with Humans to more remote areas, preferably within national parks, though the extent to which local people co-operate is variable.

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