MS Severe Weather Preparedness Week: Lightning Safety

Severe Weather Preparedness Week continues across the state ahead of the spring season.

Today’s focus is on lightning safety. According to the National Weather Service, lightning has often been called the underrated killer.

During an average year, more people die from lightning than hurricanes and tornadoes combined.

Harrison County Emergency Management Director Rupert Lacy says while we can’t necessarily prepare for a lightning strike, there are precautions we can take during a storm. “In this age of electronics, we’ve got to understand that if you’re using some of your conveniences, say if you use a computer, we encourage people to put their surge protectors on their devices. But if lightning hits close to your house, it’s going to take a path coming in. So, the bad thing is that you need to have surge protectors to protect those devices and sometimes it’s even better not to use them, unplug them until that severe storm gets over and the lightning gets out of the area.”