Luana Lourenço      Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – According to the National Institute of Space Research (“Inpe”), 89 people died in Brazil from lightning strikes in 2010. That is below the average of 132 people per year between 2000 and 2009. However, it is certainly not to be taken as a trend.

Lightning strikes thousands of times each day, mostly in tropical regions. Brazil has one of the highest rates of lightning strikes in the world.

According to Inpe, the state with the highest number of deaths from lightning in 2010 was São Paulo, with 12. Pará had 8 and Minas Gerais and Tocantins had seven each.

Inpe says most of the lightning deaths occurred in the spring, between September and December, although the incidence of lightning strikes is higher in the summer (December to March). Most of the deaths were in rural areas (61%) and most of them occurred on farms. However, 20% of the lightning deaths in the Central West region occurred when someone was on the telephone (fixed) or using a cell phone connected to a charger. In the North region there was a high number of deaths from lightning on soccer fields and inside homes because it turns out that many homes in the North have dirt floors that do not offer protection.

So far this year there have been 28 deaths from lightning in Brazil.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Raios mataram 89 pessoas no país em 2010