FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — It’s National Lightning Safety Awareness week and Florida is the lightning capital of the United States, according to the National Lightning Safety Council.
A Fernandina beach homeowner knows this all too well.
He's rebuilding his home after it was struck by lightning in May.
“This could have been huge, I mean this could have literally caught the whole house on fire," Brandon said.
A video shows the moment the bolt of lightning hit the roof, causing a fire and blowing out the electrical system.
Lightning striking a home is more common than you may think. Nationally, 1 out of 200 houses will be struck per year, according to the National Lightning Safety Institute.
“I thought it was extremely rare… so obviously, you know, now with the rebuild of the house and everything else like that, I'm looking towards what I can do to prevent those types of things," Brandon said.
A lightning report by Advanced Environmental Monitoring Group recorded over 2 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes last year across Florida. In Duval County, lightning hit the ground more than 29 thousand times.
The National Weather service encourages property owners to install a lightning protection system, such as lightning rods or electrical surge protectors, to keep their homes and business safe.
Experts with AEM say you should also have a lightning safety plan to protect yourself and your loved ones, and sign up for weather alerts.
“It really comes down to, kind of knowing how long it takes for you to get either your people or your assets out of harm’s way and then making sure you’re getting alerted well in advance of that so you have ample time," Anuj Agrawal, VP of Marketing with AEM/Earth Networks, said. "Even minutes can matter, it can be the difference between someone getting injured or life and death."
Remember, when thunder roars, go indoors.