India Meteorological Department has issued an alert of thunder and lightning which will impact several districts of Jharkhand during the next 72 hours.

The vulnerable districts include Deoghar, Dhanbad, Giridih, East Singhbhum, Simdega, Khunti and Ramgarh.

"The lightning and thunder activity would be due to the local weather condition as the monsoon has become weak over Jharkhand. It is expected to revive after the next 72 hours or so, " said S.D. Kotal, director of Ranchi Meteorological Centre.

The Met centre director went on to say that the weather condition would be primarily dry over Jharkhand till the revival of monsoon. He, however, did not rule out the possibility of rainfall in traces 9that which cannot be measured).

Several places, including Jamshedpur, Simdega, Ramgarh and Ranchi, witnessed lightning and thunder on Tuesday afternoon. But there was no rain.

Lightning strikes were reported from Silli in Ranchi district and Khunti. At Silli three women, who were working in an agricultural field, were injured. An elderly person returning home from a local haat was injured in neighbouring Khunti.

The IMD warning stated: "People should be careful in those districts for which lightning and thunder alerts have been issued for the next 72 hours. They should avoid venturing out into the fields and taking shelter under trees."

The monsoon activity has been weak over Jharkhand during the last 48 hours. Weatherman at IMD's Regional Meteorological Centre at Alipore in Calcutta said Tuesday’s satellite picture suggested formation of a cyclonic circulation over sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim. But it was too weak.

In the absence of showers during the last couple of days, the state’s rain deficit witnessed a gradual rise. Against a normal of 892.7 mm, Jharkhand has so far received 793.1 mm rain, a deficit of 11 per cent.

Two days ago, the deficit had stood at eight per cent.