Lightning hazard mapping essential to avert risks: expert

It causes nearly 40-45 deaths every year across State, says data

When a thunderstorm activity occurs, the focus is often more on rain that it brings. But lightning could be a threat to life and property too. There is a need to develop lightning hazard mapping to identify regions vulnerable to lightning strikes in the State, note disaster management experts. On an average, a minimum of 40-45 deaths are caused every year by lightning strikes across the State, going by the data for over three decades compiled by the Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management, Vellore Institute of Technology. Citing report of National Records Bureau (NCRB), G.P. Ganapathy, professor, Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management, VIT, said lightning strikes have caused nearly 2,181 accidental deaths between 1990 and 2019. In 2019, Tamil Nadu was in 10th place with 57 deaths.