Patna: At least six persons, including a child, were killed and two others injured in a sudden thunderstorm that hit 25 districts, including Patna, in the early hours of Monday, tearing off thatched roofs, bringing down walls of houses, and snapping power lines.

Two persons died in Saran district, and one each in Patna, Darbhanga, Khagaria and Rohtas districts. They were identified as Kranti Devi (50) of Awadhpura village in Maharajganj and Rampati Devi (55) of Lakhanpur in Mashrakh (Saran), Akhilesh Rai (35) in Yaduvanshi Nagar (Patna), Dharmendra Chaupal (30) of Kusheshwar Sthan (Darbhanga), Aradhna Kumari (4) of Baluahi Tola (Khagaria), and Krishna Gaur (40) of Sasaram (Rohtas).

The two persons injured were also from Baluahi Tola.

The storm hit Patna around 1am on Monday.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar has condoled the deaths because of the adverse weather, and directed officials to ensure immediate compensation to the next of kin of the deceased.

He also said that the thunderstorm damaged electricity infrastructure in various places but they have been restored.

The disaster management department's officer on special duty, Avinash Kumar, said: "The people died because of being struck by lightning, or for falling off trees, tiled roofs, or hit by collapsing walls. Officials have been directed to provide relief to the affected families."

Another official said information of damage caused to the houses in the 25 hit districts was being collected, but it would take some time. The wind blew at 50-60kmph, impacting majority of the districts.

Dinesh Chandra Yadav, the minister for disaster management, pointed out that Rs 4 lakh compensation will be provided to each of the families of the deceased. The government will also provide financial help for repair of houses damaged.

The thunderstorm was so strong that it tumbled steel girders and electricity poles on the Mahatma Gandhi Setu across the Ganga between Patna and Hajipur, bringing traffic to a halt. "We got information about Gandhi Setu soon after the thunderstorm and contacted the Ganga Bridge police station on the Hajipur side," Patna traffic superintendent of police P.N. Mishra told The Telegraph. "The private agency officials conducting repair work on the bridge were asked to start clearing operations quickly, but they started it after 7am, over five hours after the incident."

Mishra added that the steel girders and electricity poles had crashed down between pillars 12 and 30, and people were busy cutting them down for easy extraction.

"Traffic disruption on the Gandhi Setu built pressure on the other routes and led to traffic jams throughout the day," the Mishra conceded.

If that was not enough, a sand-laden truck also overturned on JP Setu, connecting Digha and Sonepur. The vehicle blocked the bridge and stopped traffic for several hours, giving passengers a harrowing time.

"My father is seriously ill and we are taking him to Patna for treatment, but we are stuck in a traffic jam in Hajipur since afternoon. It's evening now, and we don't know how much more time it will take," Chunnu Thakur, coming from Samastipur district, said around 7pm.

The India Meteorological Department has issued more weather warnings for similar storms over the next couple of days.