Lightning killed at least 26 people during storms in two Indian states, officials and news reports said.

Sixteen people were killed in four districts in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, state disaster management official Vinod Kumar said.

"The storms uprooted trees and damaged thatched huts. Guntur was the worst-affected district accounting for nine deaths," Kumar said by telephone.

"Victims who were struck by lightning were either farmers or homeless who were outdoors," he added.

Ten people were killed Sunday after lightning struck a temple in the eastern state of West Bengal, the IANS news agency reported.

A group of people had taken shelter in the temple in Howrah district during the rains. The condition of some of the injured was said to be serious.