2011 had fewest lightning deaths
In year marked by severe storms, only 26 killed by strikes
and get to a safer place.
One of the weather service’s spokespersons for lightning safety is Miss Ohio, Ellen Bryan, who will be competing in Saturday’s Miss America Pageant.
Bryan’s sister Christina suffered permanent brain damage when struck by lightning in 2000. Ellen travels across the country to promote awareness about lightning safety.
About 10% of people struck by lightning are killed, according to weather service data, while the remaining 90% are left with varying levels of disability. A lightning strike can cause acute trauma to the nervous system and affect a victim’s memory and personality.
According to Weather Channel severe weather expert Greg Forbes, the safest places to be if lightning threatens are inside a building with plumbing and wiring, or inside a metal-bodied and metal-roofed vehicle.
He says that once you’re inside, you should stay away from electrical appliances, corded telephones and plumbing during a thunderstorm. The National Weather Service tells people who are in a vehicle not to use electronic devices and not to leave the vehicle during the storm.
Forbes advises people to stay in those safe places for at least 30 minutes after the last thunder or lightning has ended, to allow storm clouds to clear the area.
Even in a year marked by severe storm outbreaks, lightning killed fewer Americans in 2011 than any year on record, according to data released by the National Weather Service.
Although 2011 was a hellish year for tornado deaths in the U.S. — more than 500 people were killed — only 26 people died from lightning strikes.
This is less than half the recent average of 55 deaths per year, and continues a downward trend in lightning deaths over the past few decades, according to weather service meteorologist John Jensenius, the agency’s expert on lightning safety.
In the 1940s, although the USA’S population was less than half what it is today, lightning killed more than 300 Americans each year, on average. In 1942 alone, 432 died.
Why the decrease in deaths? “More than anything, it’s due to ongoing public education efforts from the weather service to keep people from being struck by lightning,” Jensenius says.
He says there’s been a noticeable change in the public attitude recently about lightning, and people now recognize a dangerous weather situation