Houston Lightning storms (China: lease, houses, subsidized)

[OducksFTW!]

Lightning kills 2 on Houston soccer field, injures 1 - latimes.com


I heard this on the radio this morning and it just broke me. I was actually playing bball Sunday night and we could see some lightning in the distance. I cant believe how easily this could have been me or someone I know. I cant imagine a family going to go see a game at a local park and then have this tragedy befall them.

I thought it was worth posting not because of tragedy but also to notify people that even the slightest hint of lightning should be enough of a reason to get indoors. And NEVER stand under or around a tree during a storm.

[Dopo]

I know exactly where I was when that happened
almost exactly at that time I was dropping off my wife and kids at the front door of "China Bear" about 4-5 miles North of there.
It was raining really hard, I parked my van in the parking lot and I heard some lightning as I was walking to the restaurant
and I remember thinking "If there's one thing I'm afraid of, it's lightning"

I wouldn't be surprised if I was walking in that parking lot exactly when that lightning hit them.

[Nairobi]

In an area where storms are common, we can get pretty complacent and often times forget how dangerous they can be. No one ever thinks something like this would happen to them, because the odds of it simply aren't all that considerable.

It's an unfortunate tragedy.

[CuriousMTA]

Wow...I do that actually pretty often when walking out of a building. I did it last week. I guess I won't be doing that next time. Just like what nairobi said, I think we often forget or not think about these things, but once you hear the stories you say to yourself "that make sense".

[jtothemak]

While very tragic and sad we live on the coast where you have warm air colliding with cool air off the gulf. Lighting strikes are very common, why where these people on the field with lighting in the area? It is common sense when you see lighting to get indoors or at least under cover. Maybe I am just better educated after living in Florida for several years being the lighting capital of the country. My heart goes out to the families.

[crone]

Lightening has struck trees in my yard on 2 separate occasions. It got my neighbor to west tree 1 time, my behind neighbor, and their next door neighbor, and about every other house on the block.

Trees. Two weeks ago, we lost 2 tv's and the direct tv boxes, the router,etc and the Nutone intercom and garage door opener. One neighbor just about had to have her whole house rewired, fried the HVAC. We had a neighbor who runs coal fired power plants tell us surge protectors on the houses would do no good.

Seems like folks would know to stay away from trees in a storm.

RIP

[AmeriSwede1]

Sort of related....lightning wise. Here in Sweden recently, a lightning strike just killed 5 cows and 3 calves in a farmers yard. He is now suing the government to replace his cattle. The US isn't the only place where frivolous lawsuits happen.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by AmeriSwede1

Sort of related....lightning wise. Here in Sweden recently, a lightning strike just killed 5 cows and 3 calves in a farmers yard. He is now suing the government to replace his cattle. The US isn't the only place where frivolous lawsuits happen.

Here farmers are subsidized,
If any of them sues, I bet they'll lose their subsidy

[crone]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Here farmers are subsidized,
If any of them sues, I bet they'll lose their subsidy

You don't even need to farm to be on the dole. Several of my neighbors got the family land and lease it out. They still collect the subsidies.