A man was killed and six of his relatives injured after a small temple where they were huddled under due to heavy rain was struck by lightning, at Gaddamvaripalle village in Chowdepalle mandal, 45 km from here, on Sunday midnight. While one person was seriously injured, five others including two children suffered minor burns. The deceased was identified as Prabhakar Reddy (51).
Revenue officials said the family was returning home to Kammapalle village after attending a wedding at Palamaner. After alighting from an auto-rickshaw on the main road, they were walking to their village when the rain began pouring. They then took shelter under the roof of a temple, said to be over a hundred years old.
Within minutes, a lightning bolt struck the temple.
“The impact was so huge that a large hole was formed in the roof and the temple wall was damaged. While one person was unfortunately killed, it is a miraculous escape for the other six members of the family,” said Madhava Raju, Tehsildar of Chowdepalle. The kin of the deceased would be provided insurance benefits and an outsourcing job as per provisions laid down by the State government, the Tehsildar said.
Heavy rain was reported on Sunday night in the western mandals of Punganur, Palamaner, Gangavaram, Somala, Chittoor, and Baireddipalle. Rain was reported in 19 of the district’s 31 mandals.
Rain was reported in all the three divisions of Rajampeta, Rayachoti, and Madanapalle in Annamayya district. In all, the district received 335 mm of rainfall. Lakkireddipalle mandal received the highest rainfall of 52 mm, followed by Rajampeta (19.4 mm). Officials said that the sudden drop in temperatures due to the downpour would give relief to people as well as horticulture farmers in the region.
