The Centers for Disease Control reports over half a century find figures between 60 and more than 90 people a year killed by lightning, with the number steadily lessening with the passage of time. Still, another 300 are injured in lightning strikes.
This year there have already been fatalities in the U.S., and Angela Oder with the National Weather Service says the tips for avoiding it are your only hope — because we still can’t tell exactly when and where lightning will strike. “There’s always studies going on about how lightning works,” she says, and still there isn’t the technology to predict exactly where or when.
The Iowa Department of Public Health says from 2000 to 2004 only two people in Iowa were killed by lightning strikes. Still, for every person killed by lightning, five others are injured according to the Weather Service, which has sponsored this Lightning awareness Week.