This Week is Severe Weather Awareness Week In Arkansas and each day we are focusing on a different topic Monday it was flooding, today we talk about Lighting. Lightning is a hazard in all thunderstorms, whether they are severe or not. In the last 30 years, lightning was the third deadliest thunderstorm hazard behind flash floods and tornadoes. There are an average of 45 to 50 fatalities a year due to lightning across the country. Lightning can strike as much as 10 miles away from a thunderstorm cloud. Given this, it is no surprise that most lightning deaths occur as a thunderstorm is approaching or moving away, and not necessarily overhead. Statistics show that Arkansas is a top 10 state as far as lightning activity in the last ten years. The state experiences more than 850,000 cloud-to-ground lightning flashes per year /over 15 lightning flashes per square mile/. Remember, it is lightning that causes thunder. If you can hear thunder, you are in danger from lightning If a person is struck by lightning, that persons body will not retain any electrical charge. Thus, the injured person can and should be cared for immediately.