At least 124 persons were killed in various accidents across Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday night when a duststorm, accompanied by a short spell of rain, lashed through several parts of the state, according to official sources. Deaths were reported from various districts including Mathura, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, Ferozabad, Farrukhabad, Sitapur, Etawah, Unnao, Agra, Jalaun, Kannauj and Aligarh, but central UP was the worst-affected region. In Mathura, seven persons were killed when the hut in which they had taken refuge was struck by lightning at Dadisa village in the Sureer police station area. Three persons suffered severe burns in the incident and were admitted to hospital, where their condition was stated to be critical. Three other deaths due to lightning were reported from Kosi, Farah and Daldeo police circles of Mathura. More than 45 persons died in Kanpur and adjoining areas, where nearly 300 villages were gutted in a fire that broke out when lightning struck and the flames were stoked by the strong winds. Heavy loss of property was reported from Etawah, where a fire broke out in 150 villages, killing nine persons. The traffic on the Kanpur-Farukkhabad roads was suspended for several hours as the uprooted trees could not be moved. Large-scale devastation has been reported from Banda, Chitrakoot and Hamirpur districts, where several villages were devastated by fire. Delayed reports say the maximum casualties occurred in Kannauj, where 12 persons died. Five of them were children who had taken refuge in a house which caught fire seconds later. Nine persons died in Etawah, seven in Kanpur Dehat, four in Kanpur city, three in Auraiya, four in Jalaun, three in Farrukhabad, three in Unnao and one in Fatehpur. The officials said the death toll could go up further. Power supply in many cities was disrupted after electricity poles were uprooted and cables snapped because of the storm. Telephone and Internet services were thrown out of gear across the state and air and rail services were also adversely affected in all these districts. Mr N.K. Srivastava, DIG, Kanpur range, said police units sent to the affected districts to assist in relief operations assessed the losses as "severe". Meanwhile, meteorological department director K.P. Kulshrestha ,said the stormy conditions were typical of the pre-monsoon period. "The change in weather was owing to the upper air cyclonic circulation formed in different parts of the north-west regions of the country," he explained. The met department said a series of cyclonic circulations had been noticed since the beginning of May and they were likely to continue for the next few days, adding a cloud cover over a large part of the state.