| Protecting Your Church from Lightning |
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Early Monday (June 16th), more than 36,000 residents in 26 communities had been evacuated from their homes due to the recent flooding in Iowa,.., said Kevin Baskins of the state Emergency Operations Center. The recent storms pounding Iowa as well as the rest of the Midwest, and the heat waves seizing the East coast all have another element associated with them that can cause just as much damage to homes and churches as well as other buildings -lightning. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, an average of 67 people are killed by lightning each year and about 300 are injured. Only flash floods and river floods cause more weather related deaths. Lightning is an atmospheric discharge of electricity, which typically occurs during thunderstorms. A single bolt of lightning can reach temperatures of 54,000 °F, hot enough to turn sand into glass. Each year there are more than 16 million lightning storms. In the US, Florida fares worst in lightning strikes with the largest number of recorded strikes in the summer season. The National Lightning Safety Institute suggests that lightning costs and losses in the US may exceed $6 billion! What makes lightning so devastating is that it can produce some very strange effects. Lightning usually strikes the highest feature above the ground, but can jump to adjacent objects, such as houses, power lines, or even people or animals. Lightning is not totally understood by scientists and is, in itself, a science. And although there is much still not known about lightning, there are some known precautions that you can take in order to protect yourself and your house and/or church from lightning. Please take a moment to open the PDF file below to read some potentially life-saving tips on dealing with lightning. Lightning Safety Checklist |