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The beach may be the pure place to cool off during the summertime , but it ’s also one of the deadliest spots to be catch during a lightning storm . This past weekend , lightning struck and kill a 5 - year - old boy on a North Carolina beach , according to word reports . Though it may sound like an unusual accident , this type of cataclysm is not as uncommon as multitude may cerebrate , expert say .
The boy ’s demise is part of a worrying trend , said John Jensenius , alightningsafety medical specialist with the National Weather Service . It ’s dangerous to be outside at all during a lightning storm , but the beach is especially serious , he said . [ Electric Earth : Stunning Images of Lightning ]
The boy ’s family was holiday on Carova Beach on Sunday ( July 31 ) when the storm began , and they were moving toward tax shelter when lightning strike the child , report United Press International .
" If you are on the beach , chances are you ’re the tallest affair in the immediate domain , which makes you more vulnerable to beingstruck at once by lightning , " Jensenius tell apart Live Science . " One of the problems is that people do n’t react chop-chop enough . They do n’t wish to be trouble by thunderstorms , so people be given to hold off alfresco too long before seeking condom . "
Moreover , the unceasing crash of Wave may make it hard for citizenry to hear approaching storms , he say .
These element may explicate why the beach is the 2d deadliest position to be during a lightning storm , Jensenius said . Between 2006 and 2015 , a total of 313 mass died from lightning ten-strike in the United States , according to an analysisJensenius did for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) .
During that clock time , 18 people ( 6 per centum ) snuff it from lightning strikes while at the beach , he found . Only fishing was more dangerous , accounting for 33 deaths ( 11 percent ) during that period .
Some of the other virulent lightning - related activities include camping ( 5 pct of all lightning deaths ) , agriculture or ranching ( 5 percent ) , boating ( 4 per centum ) , riding a bike , using a motorcycle or all - terrain vehicle ( 4 per centum ) , and play soccer ( 4 percent ) , Jensenius say .
Golfing accounted for just3 per centum of lightning fatality , partially because of increased awareness that people should manoeuvre inside as soon as they see lightning , or only continue inside when lightning is in the prognosis , he said .
Jensenius suggest that as soon as mass learn thunder , they should manoeuvre indoors or to a intemperately - topped vehicle . That ’s not because the rubber tire on the fomite go protective covering , as many people believe . Rather , it ’s because if lightning strikes such a fomite , the electric charge will tend through the fomite ’s out , metal shell , get out any occupant of the vehicle relatively unharmed , he said .
The 5 - year - old boy pour down over the weekend was the 21st lightning fatality of 2016 in the country , an amount that ’s actually a bit below average , according to a NOAA database . In 2015 , there were 22 lightning - related human death by the terminal of July , but typically there are 23 , according to the agency ’s 10 - class - analysis , Jensenius said .
However , lightning - related last have plummeted since the forties , when Farmer operating tractor and other farm equipment accounted for a large circumstances of the rough 200 to 300 people who died from lightning hit in the United States every year , he said . Now , there is increased awareness about the danger of lightning and , notably , fewer farmers out in the fields . Also , CPR and other life - save engineering science have quash the number of mass who die from lightning now , he added .
However , the 5 - year - quondam was new than most lightning victim . The bulk of fatality happen to people between the age of 10 and 60 . There are few deaths among citizenry in their 30s , however , possibly because at this age people have young children , and are less likely to engage in wild out-of-door activities , Jensenius said .
Original clause onLive Science .
