(Spirit Lake)– This week marks the observance of Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa. Special themes have been assigned for each day, with today’s (Monday’s) topic being lightning safety. Dickinson County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Ehret says it’s one element of severe weather that way too many people take for granted…
“In the summertime it’s easy to get tied up with whatever you’re doing outside whether you’re on the lake, golfing, or whatever. You might not realize the skies are starting to darken and before you know it the thunderstorm could be upon you. So it’s just important to keep an eye on your surroundings and when the dark clouds start rolling in, it’s time to start heading for shore or heading indoors, with the reminder that, you know, if you can hear that thunder you’re already close enough to be struck by lightning. It’s important to get inside as soon as you see those dark clouds approaching.”
Ehret says there are precautions to take even when you’re inside when lightning is occurring…
“Kind of postpone that shower and some of those activities until that storm passes by if you can. It’s just better to be safe than sorry. We always used to say to stay off the phone as well and that still holds true if you’ve still got a corded land line, but those are few and far between any more, but just another tip there if you do still have an old land line phone, it’s good to stay off the phones, too, during thunderstorms.”
Ehret adds it’s important to stay away from trees if you do get caught outdoors in a thunderstorm…
“It’s easy to want to just run under a tree and seek shelter there from the rain and that sort of thing, but that’s probably the worse place you could be. Lightning is kind of lazy, it likes to strike the tallest object or find the easiest path to the ground and trees are often part of that path, so a tree is not a good place to seek shelter during a thunderstorm at all.”
Our series on severe weather awareness continues Tuesday with the topic being tornado safety.
