Not to be a Doubting Thomas, but where can we find the substantiation to the "fact" that seven homes in TV have burned to the ground in the last eight years
due to lightning? I am certainly not saying it is not true, but I would like to see the evidence myself instead of relying on heresay and putting out hundreds of dollars for lightning protection. Perhaps I am cynical, but...
I have spent decades of my life in areas where the lightning storms were much worse than here (Bahamas, Belize, Panama) and the building codes were less restrictive than here and have only seen one home destroyed by lightning. In addition, I've spent over twenty years in south Florida (where they also have some pretty nasty lightning storms) and six years in Gainesville (just up the road) and do not know nor have ever met anyone whose home was destroyed or damaged by lightning. I am not saying it never happens, there is no doubt that it does, but I am saying that in my
personal experience, the threat appears to be overstated. I certainly would like to see the evidence of these homes being destroyed--perhaps it would be enough to sway my opinion.
ADDED: I was curious so I thought I would do a little quick online research. A fascinating and well written article can be found here:
http://www.bellaloopers.com/Document...LH07072007.pdf. The article raises some interesting points and does claim that two homes were destroyed by lightning in TV in 2006, although interestingly enough the documentation for this claim was not provided in the article's reference section.