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How dangerous is it when lightning strikes a house?

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Professionally-installed lightning protection systems are expensive and the risk of a direct strike is low, so most homes do not have them. Lightning presents three main hazards to a house that is hit directly: Fire danger: The biggest danger lightning poses to a house is fire. read more

How dangerous a lightning strike on a house can be depends on several things. First of all, if a lightning directly strikes a building, it could cause a lot of damage to the structure basically due to the intense heat it produces. read more

Power Surges: When lightning strikes a house, the electricity often surges through a home’s wiring or plumbing system, searching for the quickest possible route to the ground. Make sure to unplug any electronics (especially valuable ones like TVs or computers), or they could be destroyed. read more

AT RIGHT: Lightning strikes a tree and house in Charleston, West Virginia in 1998. Lightning passing through a house will often 'branch' and utilize more than one path to ground at a time. It can also jump through the air from one conductive path to another in what is called a side flash. read more

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