Lee Health: Practice lightning safety
As the community turns to water-related activities to stay cool during this extremely hot summer, Lee Health reminds the public about lightning safety. As thunderstorms increase during this time, so does lightning and the chance for lightning-related incidences.
According to the National Lightning Safety Council, 34% of lightning-related fatalities are water-related, based on 293 cases from 2006 through 2022. Florida is also the lightning capital of the United States, averaging 223 lightning events per square mile last year.
As we enjoy pools, beaches and other water-related activities to stay cool with our friends and loved ones during these historically hot days, it’s important to remember how to stay lightning safe.
“There are precautions you can take and plans you can put into place to make sure you’re protected,” said Lee Health’s chief medical officer Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser. “We want it to be second nature to have that awareness built into your everyday plan. It’s always our goal to keep the Southwest Florida community safe. If you experience any lightning-related or life-threatening injuries, seek out help immediately.”
Here are some things to keep in mind when making a lightning safety plan this summer:
• Monitor the weather
• Know how long it will take to gather everyone and get them inside to a safe, enclosed structure
• Seek shelter even before it starts raining. Go inside when the thunder starts to roar.
• Don’t resume activities until 30 minutes after the last strike of lightning is seen and the last sound of thunder is heard
• Use the 30-second rule: Count the seconds between seeing the lighting and hearing the thunder. Seek shelter if it’s less than 30 seconds.
• Remember lightning safety year round and stay in practice.
If you find yourself caught in the open and unable to seek out shelter in time, seek lower ground if you are in an elevated area, never lie flat on the ground but instead crouch down in a ball-like position with your head tucked and hands over your ears, stay away from objects like power lines and barbed wire fences, and don’t shelter under a tree and get out of and away from ponds, lakes and other bodies of water.
For more information, visit leehealth.org.
Source: Lee Health