Tips on how to protect yourself and your home from lightning

Insure.com

Do you know what weather phenomenon kills more Americans than floods, hurricanes and tornadoes combined? It’s lightning.

Lightning kills nearly 100 people every year and injures another 300, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Lightning also causes more than $1 billion in insurance industry losses from residential claims each year, says the Insurance Information Institute (III).

Packing 100 million volts of electricity — a force similar to a small nuclear reactor — lightning, say the experts, is just too risky for you to ignore.

During a thunderstorm, churning air separates ions into positive and negative charges, according to the Lightning Protection Institute (LPI), a nationwide non-profit organization based in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Lightning occurs when a buildup of electrical energy explosively discharges, either within a cloud, or between a cloud and the ground.

The air near a lightning strike is heated to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than the surface of the Sun. It’s the rapid heating and cooling of air near lightning that creates the shock wave we call thunder.

Your chances of being struck by lightning are estimated to be 1 in 600,000, according to NOAA. Most lightning deaths and injuries occur when people are caught outdoors during the summer months, mostly in the afternoon and early evening. Lightning seeks the path of least resistance. If you are taller than your surroundings, or are standing next to a tall object (such as a tree), you are a prime target for a lightning strike.

Your occupation, particularly if you work outdoors, can increase your likelihood of being struck. For instance, take the extreme case of former park ranger Roy "Dooms" Sullivan of Virginia, who is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the person struck the most times by lightning. Between 1942 and his death in 1983, Sullivan was struck by lightning seven times. Lightning set his hair on fire — twice — burned off a toenail, seared his shoulder, threw him from his truck, injured his ankles, and burned his chest and stomach.

Personal lightning safety tips

Fortunately, following basic safety guidelines can greatly reduce your chances of injury or death from lightning. One of the best personal safety guidelines, according to the III, is called the "30/30 Rule:" If it takes less than 30 seconds after you see lightning to hear the thunder, you should get indoors and stay there for 30 minutes.

The LPI has other recommendations to stay safe, when lightning strikes:

Indoors

Stand clear from windows, doors, and electrical appliances.
Don't attempt to unplug televisions, stereos, or computers during the storm.
Avoid contact with piping, including sinks, baths, and faucets.
Don't use the telephone, except for emergencies.

Outdoors

Never use a tree for shelter.
Avoid areas that are higher than the surrounding landscape.
Keep away from metal objects, including bikes, golf carts, fencing, and machinery.
Immediately get away from pools, lakes, and other bodies of water.
Look for the nearest shelter with a lightning protection system, like those found at golf courses, public parks, and pools. A car, with the windows rolled up, is an excellent shelter.
If you feel a tingling sensation, your hair stands on end, or you smell sulfur, lightning might be about to strike. Immediately crouch down and cover your ears. Don't lie down or place your hands on the ground because a lightning strike might momentarily electrify the ground beneath you.

Home lightning safety tips

Property and casualty insurers take lightning very seriously. It has the power to tear through roofs, explode walls of brick and concrete, start fires, and destroy valuable electronic components. The Ohio Insurance Institute reports lightning is responsible for more than 30 percent of church fires and 18 percent of lumberyard fires. Between 1995 and 1999, State Farm reports its policyholders submitted more than 500,000 lightning-related claims. Even if a home is not hit directly by lightning, it can be threatened by wildfires started by lightning.

"I never thought it would happen to me."

Most lightning-related losses are covered by your standard home insurance policy, HO-3. This policy, the most common in the United States, covers direct losses due to lightning, as well as fire, hail, tornadoes, and windstorms.

If you live in a lightning-prone region, and don't have a lightning rod and its accompanying system, you might pay higher home or business insurance premiums. Lightning protection systems cost anywhere from $1,500 to $4,500 to protect a private home, and up to $70,000 to protect a high-rise building, according to the LPI. Lightning protection systems provide a designated path for the lightning current to travel. It neither attracts nor repels a lightning strike, but simply intercepts it and guides it harmlessly to the ground.

According to the LPI, a certified lightning protection system is made up of several components:

Air terminals, also known as lightning rods: Slender rods installed on the roof at regular intervals.
Conductors: Aluminum or copper cables that interconnect the air terminals and the other system components.
Ground terminations: Metal rods driven into the earth to guide the lightning current to the ground.
Surge arrestors and suppressors: Devices installed in conjunction with a lightning protection system to protect electrical wiring and electronic equipment.

Whether you need a professionally designed and installed lightning protection system certainly depends on many factors, including where you live, says Marian Perkowski, a spokeswoman with the LPI.

"The risk for someone who lives in Alaska that only gets one or two thunderstorms a year is different than for someone living in Florida," she says.

Perkowski also says she can't count the number of times a homeowner has called the LPI and told her a story about lightning damage that ended with: "I never thought it would happen to me."

Last updated February 12, 2003