By JESSA LEWIS
6 News Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - A single lightning strike can destroy your home, or sometimes just the things inside it.
When the clouds roll in, it's best to move things inside. But when lightning strikes, there are steps you can take to keep yourself, your home and your electronics safe.
"Lightning is just...it's a force of nature and in nature, things are not predictable. So when lightning hits a building and stuff, we don't ever really know what effect it's going to have," said Knoxville Fire Department spokesman Capt. D. J. Corcoran.
Plugging electronics into a surge protector will help protect them if lightning moves through your power lines.
"Some people go as far as having lightning arrestors on the roofs of their houses, so lightning is attracted to that, then it channels it down into the ground," explained 6 Storm Team Chief Meteorologist Matt Hinkin.
Unplugging appliances can also help save them in a storm.
"If it just hit the building, a lot of times it goes through your electrical wiring and into the ground through your electrical system. And it's going to fry everything that you've got," Corcoran said.
Stay inside during storms and away from windows. "A lot of people like to look out the windows, but many instances of lightning coming through windows, or even if it flashes close to you, it can blind you it's so bright," Hinkin explained.
The National Weather Service defines a safe place in a lightning storm as a car or building with a roof, walls and a floor. If you're in a car, you're advised to stay in it.
