Struck By Lightning Indoors: Recent Incidents Raise Awareness (2024)

FAQs

What is the rhyme for lightning safety? ›

"When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!" June brings the start of meteorological summer, and is an ideal time to promote lightning safety.

Lightning can travel through electrical systems, radio and television reception systems, and any metal wires or bars in concrete walls or flooring. Equip your home with whole-house surge protectors to protect your appliances. Avoid windows, doors, porches, and concrete.

Lightning is a very dangerous force that, yes, can even reach you indoors if you're in contact with the telephone or plumbing. If lightning strikes the phone line outside your house, the strike will travel to every phone on the line -- and potentially to you if you are holding the phone.

Call 911 immediately if someone has been struck by lightning. Next, see if it is safe to touch the person. Move him or her to a safer area if there is a continued danger from lightning strikes. If the person is not breathing or has no pulse, start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and continue until help arrives.

When You See Lightning, Count The Time Until You Hear Thunder. If That Is 30 Seconds Or Less, The Thunderstorm Is Close Enough To Be Dangerous – Seek Shelter (if you can't see the lightning, just hearing the thunder is a good back-up rule). Wait 30 Minutes Or More After The Lightning Flash Before Leaving Shelter.

“Lightning never strikes the same place twice” is a common phrase you've probably heard before, often used to reassure someone that whatever bad thing has happened, it won't happen again.

Which important indoor safety measure should be taken during a thunderstorm? Move away from windows. What are the characteristics of continental tropical air masses? They have warm, dry air.

Stay away from anything that could conduct electricity such as radios, toasters, hairdryers and Unplug any electronic equipments before the thunderstorm arrives. This may also include fireplaces, radiators, stoves metal pipes, sinks, and phones. Stay away from window and doors and stay off verandas.

What attracts lightning to a house? ›

Metal pipes and wires can allow lightning to travel into a house with often damaging and dangerous results.

Initial treatment should begin with assessment and stabilization of the airway, breathing, and circulation. Persons who have been struck by lightning should be treated as trauma patients, with close attention to spinal immobilization.

“With exposure therapy, the person may watch videos of storms or listen to the sound of thunder,” Dr. Hirsh says. Breathing techniques and progressive muscle relaxation can also be useful in treating astraphobia.

Is it safe to touch somebody who was struck by lightning? Yes. Lightning victims DO NOT carry an electrical charge and you will NOT be electrocuted by touching someone who has been struck. It is safe to touch a lightning victim and administer first aid immediately.

Minimizing the Risk

If the sky looks threatening or if you hear thunder, get inside a safe place immediately. Once inside, avoid contact with corded phones, electrical equipment, plumbing, and windows and doors. Finally, wait 30 minutes after the last lightning or thunder before going back outside.

The odds that one will be struck by lightning in the U.S. during one's lifetime are 1 in 15,300. On average, 270 people in the U.S. are struck per year, and only about 10 percent of that number die from the event. Around the world, approximately 2,000 people are struck by lightning every year.

If you count the number of seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder, and then divide by 5, you'll get the distance in miles to the lightning: 5 seconds = 1 mile, 15 seconds = 3 miles, 0 seconds = very close.

Abstract. In the Bible, St. Paul (Saul of Tarsus) was struck blind by a light from heaven. Three days later his vision was restored by a "laying on of hands." The circumstances surrounding his blindness represent an important episode in the history of religion.

The lightning was as sharp as a fork as it split the sky in half. The thunder was as loud as a truck passing by and as violent as bullets flying through the sky.

'To be as fast as lightning' means to be extremely fast. You may also hear people say 'lightning fast'. 'Lightning never strikes twice' is used when you want to tell someone that it's very unlikely something bad or unusual will happen two times in a row.

What are 3 activities you should not do during a lightning storm? ›

Stay off corded phones, computers and other electrical equipment that put you in direct contact with electricity. Avoid plumbing, including sinks, baths and faucets. Stay away from windows and doors, and stay off porches. Do not lie on concrete floors, and do not lean against concrete walls.

Lightning is a major cause of storm related deaths in the U.S. A lightning strike can result in a cardiac arrest (heart stopping) at the time of the injury, although some victims may appear to have a delayed death a few days later if they are resuscitated but have suffered irreversible brain damage.

Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela is the place on Earth that receives the most lightning strikes. Massive thunderstorms occur on 140-160 nights per year with an average of 28 lightning strikes per minute lasting up to 10 hours at a time. That's as many as 40,000 lightning strikes in one night!

Why is lightning protection so important? The function of an external lightning protection system is to intercept, conduct and disperse a lightning strike safely to earth. Without such a system a building's structure, electronic systems and the people working around or within it are all at risk.

When nitrogen oxides are created in the atmosphere during a storm, the resulting atmospheric chemistry causes one of the primary air pollutants, ground-level ozone (O₃), to change. Lightning-generated nitrogen oxides have a relatively small but potentially significant impact on ground-level ozone.

When you hear thunder, seek shelter inside a sturdy building and move to a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor. Stay away from glass windows and doors. Stay inside until weather forecasts indicate it is safe to leave. Lightning can be dangerous even when you are inside.

The safest location during a thunderstorm is inside a large enclosed structure with plumbing and electrical wiring. These include shopping centers, schools, office buildings, and private residences.

What happens when lightning hits a house? ›

Lightning can easily fracture concrete, brick, cinderblock and stone. Brick and stone chimneys are commonly damaged severely by lightning. Lightning's shock waves can blow out plaster walls, shatter glass, create trenches in soil and crack foundations.

there will be a voltage between them that could cause a shock…. Electrical wiring to the pool lights or other electricity in or near the pool can also be problematic in the event of a lightning strike to the building. If the building is not properly lightning protected, the risks are higher.”

Landlines and phone lines are one of the leading causes of lightning strikes indoors. If you have a landline, stay off your phone during a thunderstorm. Another way that lightning enters the home is through open windows and doors. Keep all windows and doors closed during electrical storms.

Lightning rods (and the accompanying protection system) are designed to protect a house or building from a direct lightning strike and, in particular, a lightning-initiated fire.

Lightning rewires the brain in much the same way that an electrical shock can scramble a computer – Mary Ann Cooper, researcher. The changes in personality and mood that survivors experience, sometimes with severe bouts of depression as well, can strain families and marriages, sometimes to breaking point.

The heat produced when lightning moves over the skin can produce burns, but the current moving through the body is of greatest concern. While the ability to survive any lightning strike is related to immediate medical attention, the amount of current moving through the body is also a factor.

Astraphobia, also known as astrapophobia, brontophobia, keraunophobia, or tonitrophobia, is an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning or an unwarranted fear of scattered and/or isolated thunderstorms, a type of specific phobia. It is a treatable phobia that both humans and animals can develop.

In this form of therapy, psychologists create a safe environment in which to “expose” individuals to the things they fear and avoid. The exposure to the feared objects, activities or situations in a safe environment helps reduce fear and decrease avoidance.

How common is fear of lightning? ›

Almost 3% of us may be affected by astraphobia, a fear of thunder and lightning, according to one study.

Storm lightning is so fast that even if it were to hit a window, the window would shatter from the heat and speed. Also glass is not a conductor so being struck by lightning through the window would take the glass being shattered first and then you could be struck by lightning but this would require two strikes.

Call 9-1-1 and seek medical care for a lightning strike — even if the injury appears to be minor. Complications from lightning strikes can cause permanent disability. If you are with sometime hit by lightning, assess the person's injuries.

According to a doctor, the injuries could have been much worse had it not been for the fact that they were walking hand in hand. “These two were lucky they that they were holding hands. It helped to diffuse the electrical current that ran through their bodies,” Dr. Stefan Reynoso told CNN affiliate KCAL.

What not to do during lightning? ›

Stay off corded phones, computers and other electrical equipment that put you in direct contact with electricity. Avoid plumbing, including sinks, baths and faucets. Stay away from windows and doors, and stay off porches. Do not lie on concrete floors, and do not lean against concrete walls.

2022 Driving Safety Quotes, Slogans and Sayings

Leave sooner, drive slower, live longer. Speed thrills but kills! Better Late than Never!

Drive sober or get pulled over. Stay alive, don't drink and drive. Road safety is no accident. Alert today, alive tomorrow.

Stay In Your Lane and Check Your Surroundings

If you're driving, you should stay in your lane and avoid swerving. Only merge lanes if you've used your indicators to let another driver know that you're entering their lane. Before doing anything on the road, though, you should make sure you check your surroundings.