[Table of Contents]

C. COMPARISONS OF ADDITIONAL CASUALTY INFORMATION

Shelter taken by people

For all locations combined, the types of shelters people took are compared in Figure 17 and Table 62 based on Table 17 for the 1890s and Table 41 for the 1990s. A 1% threshold was applied for entries in Table 62.

Taking shelter under trees is a consistent killer during both centuries. More people took no shelter from lightning at all, or were in agricultural sheds in the 1890s than in the 1990s.

FIGURE 17. Comparison of the main types of shelter taken by lightning fatalities 100 years apart.

Transportation

The type of transportation people took are compared in Table 63 based on Tables 18 and 42. During the 1890s, lightning victims were most often in a wagon or buggy being pulled by animals or on an animal. A few lightning victims were on a horse in the 1990s during Recreation settings in most cases. During the 1990s, the most frequent transportation was on a boat or ship, followed by inside motor vehicles and tractors.

Animals nearby

The presence of animals near lightning victims was listed in Table 19 for the 1890s and Table 43 for the 1990s. The only entries that exceeded 1% in either century were 11.1% killed and 34.5% injuries near or on horses in the 1890s.

Gender

The gender of victims is compared in Table 64 and Figure 18 based on Tables 20 and 44. Unknown cases were removed from the sample for this comparison.

In both centuries, males were a dominant part of the deaths. However, the ratio of injured males was substantially lower in the 1890s. The case when 200 people were injured in the church event in Table 8 and Section 3B affected these percentages significantly.

Similarly large percentages of male victims were found in the US by Curran et al. (2000) and Duclos and Sanderson (1990), in Florida by Duclos et al. (1990) and Holle et al. (1993), and in North Carolina by Langley et al. (1991). The same was also found in Singapore by Pakiam et al. (1981), Great Britain and Ireland by Baker (1984), Australia by Coates et al. (1993), England and Wales by Elsom (1993), and Navarra (Spain) by Aguado et al. (2000).

FIGURE 18. Comparison of the gender of lightning fatalities 100 years apart.

D. COMPARISONS OF DAMAGES

Damages

The major types of lightning damages are compared in Table 65 and Figure 19 based on Table 21 for the 1890s and Table 45 for the 1990s. Farms and animals were the categories most often mentioned for the 1890s. Dwellings account for half of the 1990s entries in Storm Data. Yet deaths in Indoors settings greatly decreased (Tables 50 to 53, Figures 11 to 14). Many other categories are similar, except that utilities now account for more entries than in the 1890s.

FIGURE 19. Comparison of the types of lightning damages 100 years apart.

Costs

Values of lightning damages compared in Table 66 and Figure 20 are based on Tables 23 and 47. The 70% Unknowns in the 1890s and 1% Unknown in the 1990s have been removed. Both samples peak from $500 to $5000. Recent losses tend to be larger; this is consistent with an increase due to inflation in the value of losses in the 1990s compared to the 1890s.

Costs determined by detailed analysis for the 1990s are lower than in US Storm Data summarized by Curran et al. (1997) from 1959 to 1994. All damages for a storm are combined in Storm Data, while this study divided damages into the categories of Table 65. Insured losses in the US from 1987 to 1992 (Holle et al., 1996) are less than Table 66 and Figure 20 for the 1990s since Storm Data tends to report the cases with larger dollar losses.

FIGURE 20. Comparison of the amounts of lightning losses 100 years apart.

Next: Chapter 6: Discussion and Conclusions