SAFEST IN A THUNDERSTORM.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 21, 15 September 1911, Page 2

SAFEST IN A THUNDERSTORM.

The greatest danger for a human being in a thunderstorm is to be tho highest projecting object on the gUr . face. Hence it is very dangerous to bo out on a golf-links or moorland hj||. side or in a small boat on water. The wise thing is to take shelter in a hou* or, if that is not accessible, in a cav» or under overhanging rock, or in a hole or to lie flat. Many more people struck (according to statistics) in the open than when taking shelter un<] (T trees, and it appears (from statistics) that more people are killed when seeking safety under oak-trees than under trees, but this may be due to tho rol«. tive abundance of those trees or to th e nature of the soil in which they grow Avoid a solitary high tree, but protection in a wood or clump of nianv small trees. In a house avoid (during a storm) placing yourself between two large and prominent conductors of electrioity, such as tho water pipe or gaj main and the fireplace. If the house is a detached one or a corner house in & row and the storm is close, you may <J O well to retire into tho basement, until the sorm is over. On the whole the long rows of houses of fairly equal height in the streets of a great town are about as safe as any placo during ait electric storm. They are so safe that it is not thought worth while to protect them with lightning conductors. The Eiffel Tower in Paris, being entire!? built of iron, is a huge lightning conductor, and has been photographed i n storms with forked lightning harmlessly playing about its head.—Sir Ray Lani. ester, in the 'Daily Telegraph.'