# Most fatalities from one lightning storm?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 20, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601 "2007-07-20T23:28:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/1 "2007-07-20T23:28:13Z")
I am highly suspicious of a [news story](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070720/wl_nm/pakistan_lightning_dc_1;_ylt=ApAhhKShfi4WVO.yPRNKDmkE1vAI) that claims a lightning storm in the mountains of Pakistan has killed about 30 people and destroyed a dozen homes.
Has there even been a lighning storm anywhere that cause a comparable amount of damage or casualties?
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### Author:  [@PuddingCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PuddingCat)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/2 "2007-07-21T00:34:19Z")
My IE is borked so I can’t read the link. Do you know whether this is attributed to multiple lightning strikes? What about the ensuing fire - how many cramped shacks were burnt? Alternatively, they were unaware of the safest practise and were huddled around a great tree for protection. That might give 30 deaths from one strike ☹
Personally, I don’t think 30 is that high given the ferociousness of lightning. I realise it’s a massive human tragedy but maybe I’m not as immune as I thought to the “if it’s over there, it’s not important” sentiment in the british press.
trmatthe
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/3 "2007-07-21T00:38:04Z")
Depends on how big a fire it starts in a bunch of almost-connected shacks made of dry wood & cloth in an area with no fire department & no water supply other than a well 1/2 mile away.
ETA: No reply action for over an hour & then two simulposts … sheesh.
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### Author:  [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/4 "2007-07-21T01:39:41Z")
I’d think a boat or airplane being taken by lightning down could win this one. My vote’s on the airplane.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/5 "2007-07-21T02:10:18Z")
Why does [Florida](http://weather.about.com/od/thunderstormsandlightning/tp/lightningstates.htm) rack up more lightning deaths than the other 49 states put together? Crazier weather? Magnetic field anomalies from all those steel hip joints? More people per capita too dumb to come in out of the rain?
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/6 "2007-07-21T02:20:56Z")
Just turned up a very old news item from [Chicago, July, 1901](http://www.gendisasters.com/data1/il/storms/chicago-lightiningstrikejul1901.htm). One lightning hit on a wooden pier on Lake Michigan killed 12 boys out fishing.
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### Author:  [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/7 "2007-07-21T02:26:50Z")
Pan Am Flight 7
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### Author:  [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/8 "2007-07-21T02:38:42Z")
[QUOTE=IAmNotSpartacus]
Pan Am Flight 7
[/QUOTE]
Grrr, darn internet hiccups. Anyways, Wikipedia says [Pan Am Flight 214](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_214#Guinness_world_record), a 707 had 81 deaths, and LANSA flight 208 had 91 deaths
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/9 "2007-07-21T02:43:30Z")
Good work **NotSparty** - I I think I may have a higher level cite [here](http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lls/avaition_losses.html). It’s a listing of lightning related aviation fatalities. It confirms the LANSA flight with 91 lost over Peru in 1971. The plane apparently lost parts of both wings to the hit and immediately went down in mountainous territory.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/10 "2007-07-21T02:46:54Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug]
Why does [Florida](http://weather.about.com/od/thunderstormsandlightning/tp/lightningstates.htm) rack up more lightning deaths than the other 49 states put together?
[/QUOTE]
Florida has more thunderstorms than any other state. Most of Florida has 70–90 days with thunderstorms per year per 10,000 square miles. Most of California, Orgeon and Washington has fewer than 10. New England has 10–30.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/11 "2007-07-21T02:54:21Z")
[LANSA 508](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LANSA_Flight_508) actually had _one_ survivor out of the 92 on board. She fell to earth still belted to her seat and walked through the jungle for 10 days until she came to a lumber camp.
Werner Herzog, the filmmaker, almost took this plane.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/12 "2007-07-21T03:28:16Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon]
Florida has more thunderstorms than any other state.
[/QUOTE]
[Florida lightning is also more lethal when it strikes a human.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8661590&highlight=florida#post8661590)
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### Author:  [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-fatalities-from-one-lightning-storm/412601/13 "2007-07-21T03:44:46Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon]
Florida has more thunderstorms than any other state. Most of Florida has 70–90 days with thunderstorms per year per 10,000 square miles. Most of California, Orgeon and Washington has fewer than 10. New England has 10–30.
[/QUOTE]
IIRC, when I lived in Florida, they attributed the number of lightning storms to the fact that Florida was a peninsula surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. Lots of warm air and moisture served to produce lots of thunderstorms.
Anyway, when I was in the Navy there, we had a lighting detection monitoring system that went out about 50 miles. As I recall, the thing was always registering lighting somewhere in that radius. There were time when the monitor sounded like a Geiger counter next to a lump of radioactive material.