Lightning Safety Week: June 23-29, 2013
Jun. 25, 2013 PLYMOUTH VOICE.
Protect Your Home and Family
Lightning is the third greatest storm-related killer in the United States and causes nearly $1 billion in damages each year.
Over the past 10 years, on average, lightning has directly killed about 37 people per year in the U.S. and indirectly killed about a dozen more due to fires caused by lightning. There is no safe place outside when a thunderstorm is in the area. If you hear thunder, you need to get inside a safe place immediately, avoid contact with plumbing and anything plugged into an electrical outlet, stay off corded phones, and stay away from windows and doors. Remain there for 30 minutes after the last lightning or thunder. Remember…When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!
Lightning: What You Need to Know
- NO PLACE outside is safe when thunderstorms are in the area!!
- If you hear thunder, lightning is close enough to strike you.
- When you hear thunder, immediately move to safe shelter: a substantial building with electricity or plumbing or an enclosed, metal-topped vehicle with windows up.
- Stay in safe shelter at least 30 minutes after you hear the last sound of thunder.
Indoor Lightning Safety
- 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.
Last Resort Outdoor Risk Reduction Tips If you are caught outside with no safe shelter anywhere nearby the following actions may reduce your risk:
- Immediately get off elevated areas such as hills, mountain ridges or peaks
- Never lie flat on the ground
- Never shelter under an isolated tree
- Never use a cliff or rocky overhang for shelter
- Immediately get out and away from ponds, lakes and other bodies of water
- Stay away from objects that conduct electricity (barbed wire fences, power lines, windmills, etc.)
|News Plymouth Michigan
