How To Establish To Insurance That Damage Was Caused By Lightning – To prove that lightning caused damage to your house and possessions, you will need to provide evidence. As soon as it is safe to do so, you should photograph any holes, char marks, or other exterior damage as soon as it is safe to do so.
- However, a ground strike near your residence might cause damage to your home’s electrical system and plumbing.
- Additionally, you may want to examine for burn scars and holes in your yard and take photographs of them.
- Call an electrician and/or a plumber to inspect the damaged items.
- They can provide evidence that the damage was caused by a lightning strike and estimate the cost of repairs or replacements.
Both of these materials will be required to file a claim with your insurance provider. When lightning strikes a residence, electrical problems can develop throughout the household and in any devices that were connected in. It is normal to lose equipment that were hooked into the wall or wired into the home, such as your water heater or air conditioner.
Is lightning an insured loss cause?
The good news is that virtually all homeowner’s insurance plans cover lightning damage. Your coverage includes the following: damage to personal property.
There are four primary forms of damage generated by lightning: physical damage, secondary effect damage, electromagnetic pulse (EMP) damage, and ground reference potential change damage. Current flow and heat both create physical harm. In the United States, a typical lightning strike transmits between 25,000 and 45,000 amps, with larger amperage strikes happening in the south, where storms grow to greater heights.
The core temperature of a lightning channel is around 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is nearly five times the sun’s surface temperature. This indicates that the temperature climbs rapidly from the ambient temperature, which may be 80 or 90 degrees Fahrenheit, to a temperature nearing 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
This heat causes the sap in a tree hit by lightning to evaporate and expand, causing the tree to split. Concrete never entirely dries out. Concrete contains constantly latent moisture. When a concrete structure is impacted, the moisture transforms into steam, causing the structure to expand and suffer damage.
- When surrounding air is heated so fast, it expands forcefully and compresses creating a shock wave.
- To lift this shock wave off the roof of the shielded structure, lightning rods are designed with a minimal length.
- We hear thunder when the shock wave slows and becomes subsonic.
- Lightning can create arcing and induced currents as a secondary consequence.
The location on the earth’s surface that is impacted during a strike is generally devoid of ground charge. The region surrounding the point remains highly charged, generating a gradient potential over the site. The surrounding region discharges its charge towards the target.
- This surge of charge can cause an arc if it passes a gap.
- If this arc occurs in a combustible substance, it might trigger a fire or explosion.
- If it occurs within a bearing, such as in a pump at a wastewater treatment facility, it can cause premature wear and failure.
- If the arcing occurs on a circuit board, the board may be damaged.
Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is comparable to a nuclear explosion at high altitude. The on-off-on-off behavior of the lightning discharge causes the electromagnetic field surrounding the strike to grow and contract with each discharge. This movement of the electromagnetic field can generate current flow in wires and other conductors.
- We have observed petroleum production and disposal sites ignite more than a half mile from a lightning strike.
- The internal voltages of older vacuum tube-type equipment were rather high, hence a vacuum tube was more robust to transients than a microprocessor.
- When a vacuum tube working at several hundred volts suffered a one hundred volt spike, there was no cause for alarm.
However, when a microprocessor that operates on a few volts detects a hundred volt transient, it is a significant issue. The EMP-induced current can readily cause damage to a CPU. In fact, we have received reports of a close impact causing damage to a microprocessor while it was still in its shipping packing.
Ground reference potential change harm is analogous to a secondary effect snapshot. When lightning strikes, the point of impact’s potential is altered. Another place far from the strike will have a much different potential. This potential difference over distance can cause conductors to conduct current.
Assume that the AC electricity enters the building and is grounded there. The potentials of field data transmitters deployed in different areas will vary. Each contributes to the control system. The AC power service determines the motherboard’s potential, while field data transmitters flow into the data boards.
Does coverage extend to lightning damage?
Typically, a warranty does not cover electrical problems caused by reasons other than regular wear and tear, such as circuit overload, lightning strikes, power loss, or power surges.
Signs and symptoms of a person who was struck by lightning in close proximity. Note the tiny branching redness ascending the victim’s leg as a result of the current’s impact. Lightning frequently causes muscular aches, bone fractures, heart arrest, disorientation, hearing loss, seizures, burns, behavioral disorders, and cataracts.
Consciousness loss is fairly common shortly following a blow. Lightning burns are defined by a distinct pattern of skin lesions and are generated by the energy produced by lightning strikes. These tree-like lesions, commonly known as Lichtenberg forms, resemble feathering or ferning. The markings are generated when capillaries beneath the skin burst as a result of the electrical discharge, and they often develop “within hours” following an electrical discharge, but they tend to vanish within a few days.
Also commonly found on the upper torso. Frequently, the limited length of exposure reduces the harm to the epidermis. The extreme heat created by a lightning strike can burn tissue, injure the lungs, and cause harm to the chest through the fast expansion of hot air.
- In the same way that heat may cause air in the lungs to expand, the explosive shock wave formed by lightning (the origin of thunder) can induce concussion and hearing impairment at close range.
- Objects damaged or thrown by the lightning strike might cause further bodily harm.
- For instance, lightning striking a nearby tree may evaporate sap, and the steam explosion typically results in the explosive ejection of bark and wood pieces.
Additionally, lightning strikes can trigger a temporary paralysis known as keraunoparalysis. In addition to a lack of pulse, pallor or cyanosis, and motor and sensory loss in the extremities, keraunoparalysis is characterized by the presence of these signs and symptoms.
What happens if your automobile is struck by lightning while you are driving?
Lightning and Automobiles If you are OUTSIDE your vehicle and leaning against it, are you protected by its rubber tires? NO! When thunderstorms are present, automobiles are susceptible to being hit by lightning, along with trees, residences, and people.
- The good news is that the exterior metal shell of hard-topped metal cars does give protection to people inside with the windows shut.
- However, the car may not always perform that well.
- A typical cloud-to-ground, or cloud-to-vehicle, lightning strike will strike either the antenna or along the roof of the car.
The lightning will then travel through the exterior metal shell of the car and the tires before reaching the earth. Although each lightning hit is unique, it is normal for the antenna, electrical system, back windshield, and tires to sustain damage. The heat from a lightning strike is sufficient to partially melt a vehicle’s antenna and can generate what seems to be a little burst of sparks as tiny metal bits melt and ignite.
A part of the discharge may enter the electrical system of the vehicle and damage or destroy electronic components, potentially rendering the vehicle unusable. Additionally, the lightning may enter the little defrosting wires that are implanted in the rear windows, causing the panes to shatter. As it goes through the steel belts to the ground, it is fairly usual for lightning to destroy one or more tires.
It is also possible for lightning to cause a vehicle-destroying fire.: Lightning and Automobiles