On 2 November 1994 a lightning strike ignited three diesel and aircraft fuel tanks belonging to the Egyptian Army strategic reserve near the village of Dronka, Asyut Governorate in Egypt.
[1] The flooding compounded with the lightning strike meant flaming oil leaked from the tanks and was carried by floodwater into the village.
[2] On 2 November 1994, a five-hour thunderstorm led to flash floods that affected 124 villages in the four governorates of Asyut, Sohag, Qena and Luxor.
[5] The losses were concentrated in the village of Dronka, Asyut, where the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population report noted that 469 bodies were recovered from there alone, and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) considers this figure to be the death toll.
[2] The highest death toll directly caused by a single lightning strike is 21 people killed while sheltering in a hut in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1975.