7 Things Not to Do — Really — During a Thunderstorm
Is it truly not okay to take a shower or talk on the phone? A UL safety expert explains
(Photo: The safest place to be during a thunderstorm is indoors, no question. But you may not be quite as protected as you think within the shelter of your own home.
About one-third of lightning strike injuries occur indoors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
So yes, it really is important to follow the rules you’ve probably heard about not taking a shower, etc., during a thunderstorm.
“Sometimes you hear stories where lightning strikes a home and it’s one bolt of lightning, but it takes out the TV in one place, it damages the furnace somewhere else — it just goes everywhere and does a lot of overall damage to everything that’s connected,” says John Drengenberg, consumer safety director for UL.
Related: 12 Ways to Prepare for a Power Outage
So, when the clouds start rumbling, break out a board game, grab a good book or fire up your tablet (using battery power) because you shouldn’t do any of these:
Take a shower. If lightning strikes your house, it can travel along the water pipes — and potentially through you while you shower. “Your water pipes are just another route for lightning to go where it wants to go, which is back into the ground,” says Drengenberg.
Wash dishes in the sink. This isn’t the time to catch up on chores around the house unless it’s dusting or folding clothes. Since lightning can travel through the plumbing, stay away from washing dishes, says Drengenberg.
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