Roiling thunder: County launches campaign to avoid lightning deaths
Posted 7/29/09
Officials unveiled new signs posted with the message “When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors,” during a press conference at Centennial Park West in Ellicott City. The signs will be placed at all county parks, at Columbia Association recreational facilities, at Howard Community College and at local schools, said Dr. Peter Beilenson, the county’s health officer.
The slogan is taken from a National Weather Service campaign and Howard County is the first community in the country to adopt the program, Beilenson said. The campaign’s goal is to warn people that at the first sound of thunder, all outdoor activity should stop and people should go inside.
“Everyone knows lightning is dangerous — it kills more people in the U.S. than tornadoes or hurricanes,” Beilenson said. “Most people who are killed or are struck by lighting are starting to take cover after seeing lightning, but that’s too late.”
The county hopes that by encouraging people to go indoors sooner, it will help save lives and prevent injuries, Beilenson said. All county-related outdoor activities will halt at the sound of thunder, a policy the school system, CA and the community college are also adopting, Beilenson said.
There have been 26 lightning-related fatalities so far this year, nearly as many as occurred in all of 2008, according to the National Weather Service. The last lightning death in Maryland took place in June 2007 in Oxon HIll when an 18-year-old woman was struck and killed by lightning while waiting for a bus.
On average, more than 400 people in the United States are struck each year and about 60 die, according to the weather service. More than 70 percent of fatalities occur from June through August.
- Derek Simmonsen
user comments (6)
user milton says...
Wow. The county health department must be really bored.
Posted 4:56 PM, 07.29.09
user lisbonite says...
I hope this "campaign" was free, because launching a campaign to raise awareness of something that affects 400 people nationally a year, of which only 60 people die, is a totally shocking. Not only that, but the last death in Maryland was over two years ago. And I love Beilenson's incendiary statistic- "it kills more people than tornadoes or hurricanes"- which clearly isn't a lot of impact either. This program is clearly a strike out.
Posted 4:59 PM, 07.29.09
user lisbonite says...
where's the "don't fall" awareness campaign? Unintentional fall deaths; number of deaths annually in US: 20,000 or the "do you know what your wife put in your meatloaf" awareness campaign? Unintentional poisoning deaths, annually in US; number of deaths: 27,000
Posted 5:24 PM, 07.29.09
user johnbailey says...
Maybe this is what Beilenson and Ulman are using the $500,000 it recieves for the Healthy Howard program. They are not registering participants for the program, so I guess buying signs telling people that bolts of lightening are dangerous would constitute keeping people healthy. Way to tell people what they already know. I learned that lightning was dangerous in elementary school when we learned about Ben Franklin.
Posted 8:28 PM, 07.29.09
user observer says...
Man...I MISS Howard County! Where the local government can afford to worry about the most unlikely of hazards to the health of its residents.
Posted 10:18 PM, 07.29.09
user beatendowntaxpayer says...
Well, I guess after every single one of their programs became a complete failure, they figure they will probably reduce HoCo lightening deaths to zero. From, well, zero. How about an awareness campaign for what happens to your tax dollars when you elect idiots?
Posted 1:50 AM, 07.30.09
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement