{"id":31730,"date":"2023-04-19T11:27:08","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T15:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=31730"},"modified":"2023-04-19T11:27:14","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T15:27:14","slug":"prepping-for-thunderstorms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2023\/04\/19\/prepping-for-thunderstorms\/","title":{"rendered":"Prepping for Thunderstorms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Florida has long been known as the lightning capital of the United States. In 2022, Polk County led the way in central Florida with 285 lightning strikes per square mile.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"253\" height=\"200\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/download-2.png?resize=253%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31731\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lightning is a leading cause of storm-related injury and death. Lightning strikes can result in cardiac arrest. Only about 10% of people struck by lightning are killed but the remaining 90% are left with varying disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to lightning and thunder, thunderstorms can feature winds over 50 mph, hail, flash flooding and tornadoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are the steps you can take to prepare for thunderstorms and lightning:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Know your risk and sign up for Polk County warnings by visiting&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.alertpolk.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.alertpolk.com<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strengthen your home by cutting down or trimming trees that could fall on your home. Also consider buying surge protectors to protect your appliances and electronic devices.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Create an emergency plan that includes identifying sturdy buildings near where you live, work, study or play.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During a thunderstorm, you can stay safe by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Going indoors \u2013 into a building or a car with a roof \u2013 when you hear thunder.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Avoiding using electronic devices connected to an electrical outlet.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Avoiding running water, including showers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Avoiding driving on flooded roadways.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, once the storm passes, make sure it\u2019s safe before going outside. Watch for flash flooding. Also, watch for downed power lines and trees. Report them immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a>For more information on prepping for disasters, visit www.polk-county.net\/emergency-management or go to Polk County Emergency Management\u2019s social media accounts:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Facebook: PolkCountyEM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Twitter: @PolkEmergency<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florida has long been known as the lightning capital of the United States. In 2022, Polk County led the way in central Florida with 285 lightning strikes per square mile.&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[4894],"class_list":["post-31730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-prepping-for-thunderstorms"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}