[graciegirl]

We went to a presentation on lightning last night. It was arranged by our village and they invited a person who posts on this forum who calls himself "lightning".

This man is a villager, does not sell anything, and became interested in protecting his home after realizing that seven homes in TV have burnt to the ground due to lightning strikes in the last eight years..

He did his due diligence exploring the matter and contacted The University of Florida who has experts on the subject. He and a friend who is also not involved with selling any lightning protection have put together a power point presentation on lightning. Central Florida is the lightning capital of the United States. Their presentation involved myths commonly held and much factual and new to me information.

I dreaded going, thinking that it would be boring and also thinking the bottom line was that he owned something that would benefit him monitarily. NOT so. It was very informative and helpful and if you have a chance try to get him to come and speak to your group.

I learned that properly installed lightning rods can almost always protect your home from severe damage. I learned that secondary strikes were a different kind of lightning and required a different kind of protection.

He never mentioned any companies by name to contact during his talk but warned of door to door people who would offer you lightning protection that was inadequate or downright useless. He said they knew of three ethical companies in the area that were approved by Underwriters Laboratories (??) and the University of Florida but did not mention their names.

He recommends reading a book that is in our library here, written by the Lightning experts at University of Florida.

If any of you have questions for him, you can PM him. His name on this forum is Lightning.

He has written good articles about the subject for the POA and also the VHA newsletters. He is an ethical speaker with no hidden agenda in my opinion.

I hope he will read this and reply. I think his name is lightning but not 100% sure.

Our storm season starts June first. I just got an email that tropical storm 01 is now forming out at sea.

[Mikeod]

Modern Marvels on H2 (on Comcast channel 388 in HD) is showing a program tonight at 11PM called "Most Shocking" that has a section on lightning. I'm recording it.

[villager]

Thanks for the info, Gracie!

[asianthree]

Good Job Gracie thanks for the info

[pooh]

Our neighborhood social club also had a presentation by the same individuals, Gracie. It was very informative and enlightening. I do believe we had lightning rods Installed prior to the presentation, but it was still worth attending! Glad you enjoyed it as much as Mike and I did.

[ssmith]

it was enLIGHTENING hahahahaha!

[pooh]

Originally Posted by ssmith

it was enLIGHTENING hahahahaha!

LOLOLOL ....aren't I clever.....

[cynkr67]

Good information. Thanks for sharing!!

[joannej]

Thanks, Gracie, for sharing this info! :-)

[Lightning]

If you observe or learn of a direct or indirect lighning strike causing damage in or around The Villages please let us know on this web site. Sometimes we contact the homeowner to determine if there are new lessons learned for use in our Power Point presentations, Lightning Tips for Villagers.

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by ssmith

it was enLIGHTENING hahahahaha!

I'll bet the next thing you'll tell us is that his last name is Rod!

[TomSpasm]

I've lived in Central Florida since 1984 - 20 years in the Tampa Bay area, 6 years in Sarasota, 1 year here. I have never met anyone, or know anyone who knows anyone, who's house has been damaged, much less burnt down by lightning.

Could it happen? Yes. Is it a smart investment? No. Just my opinion...

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by skyguy79

I'll bet the next thing you'll tell us is that his last name is Rod!

Joe. Pay attention. That is his FIRST name.

[NJblue]

Originally Posted by TomSpasm

I've lived in Central Florida since 1984 - 20 years in the Tampa Bay area, 6 years in Sarasota, 1 year here. I have never met anyone, or know anyone who knows anyone, who's house has been damaged, much less burnt down by lightning.

Could it happen? Yes. Is it a smart investment? No. Just my opinion...

The economic payback may indeed be subject for debate. However, had you been here for longer than a year you would certainly know of houses here in TV that have indeed burned to the ground from lightning strikes. Two burned down our first summer here three years ago.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by TomSpasm

I've lived in Central Florida since 1984 - 20 years in the Tampa Bay area, 6 years in Sarasota, 1 year here. I have never met anyone, or know anyone who knows anyone, who's house has been damaged, much less burnt down by lightning.

Could it happen? Yes. Is it a smart investment? No. Just my opinion...

Here in The Villages. There have been seven homes burnt to the ground in the last eight years. We live smack dab in the lightning capital of the U.S. However we can protect ourselves from direct strikes by getting lightning rods installed by an expert.