Over 100 killed as violent storm tears through India's most populous state

NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR - A violent storm bringing rain and hail scythed across India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, killing more than 100 people, rescue officials said on Thursday, as the chief minister ordered relief funds to be distributed within 24 hours.

Storms are common in the northern state during the hot season from March to June before monsoon rains bring respite, but Wednesday's storm injured 59 people, damaged 87 homes, and killed 114 livestock, authorities said.

At least 104 people died in about a dozen districts, the worst hit being the area around the Hindu pilgrimage city of Prayagraj, the office of the state's relief commissioner, Hrishikesh Bhaskar Yashod, told Reuters.

"The entire area where we live turned black for around half an hour," said Ashok Rai, who lives in the coal-rich industrial town of Obra in the state's Sonbhadra district.

"Strong winds lifted hoardings and signboards and thick coal dust from the ground and hurled them around," he added.

Television images showed uprooted trees and billboards swept onto cars in the aftermath of the storm, which also knocked down wooden furniture at roadside stalls.

Strong winds hurled into the air a man ripped from a tin structure to which he was clinging, a video clip showed on television, which said he was injured but survived his ordeal in the district of Bareilly.

Falling trees and collapsing walls also claimed some lives, a state relief official told Reuters.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of the state, governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, told officials to help survivors and distribute financial aid within 24 hours, authorities said.

=Reporting by Saurabh Sharma and Jatindra Dash; Writing by Sakshi Dayal and Shanima Aniyeri; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and YP Rajesh/Reuters