Patna : 76 individuals have been killed by lightning in the last two days as vicious tempests and heavy rains lashed Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, disaster management authorities said Wednesday.

Bihar reported the most of the demise after an overnight strom, which harmonized with the arrival of the monsoon in the eastern state on Tuesday, left 56 individuals dead. Bihar disaster administration minister Chandrashekhar cautioned that the toll could be higher, a news office said.

Though lightning strikes are relatively common during the June-October monsoon the death toll is particularly high for two days.

“We have confirmation of 47 deaths and fear the toll may go up as reports are pouring in from other districts,” Anirudh Kumar, a senior official at Bihar’s diaster management agency, told to Newsmen.