PHNOM PENH, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Lightning strikes claimed 110 lives in Cambodia in 2018, up 37 percent from 80 deaths recorded a year earlier, a disaster control spokesman said on Tuesday.

Besides fatalities, thunderbolts injured 82 others last year, up 28 percent from 64 in the year before, said Keo Vy, spokesman for the National Committee for Disaster Management.

"The increase in casualties from lighting strikes last year was due to the surge in rainfall amounts," he told Xinhua. "Moreover, Cambodia had suffered more from the impact of tropical storms."

The spokesman said the Southeast Asian nation had experienced the impact of 29 storms in 2018.

Lightning occurs often during the annual rainy season from May to October, Keo Vy said, adding that to minimize the dangers of lightning, people should stay indoors when there is rain.

In addition to the casualties from lightning strikes, flash floods that hit the kingdom between July and September last year had also killed 63 people, he said.