AUSTIN (KXAN) — More than 200 people have been struck and killed by lighting in the United States over the past 10 years.
A California woman became the first person in the nation killed by lightning this year.
Antonia Mendoza Chavez, 52, was walking her two dogs in Pico Rivera, California, on Wednesday when she was struck and killed, according to KXAN sister station KTLA.
California has reported nine lightning fatalities since 2006, but several states have reported more.
Florida has reported the most lightning deaths, with 80 since 2006. Texas is second, with 37 deaths in the same time period.
Colorado, Alabama and North Carolina round out the top five, each with at least 20 lightning fatalities.
When adjusted for population, Wyoming has reported the most: 5.2 deaths for every 1 million residents. Montana and Colorado have both reported more than 4 deaths for every 1 million residents.
Since 2006, the number of men killed by lightning is almost four times the number of women killed.
In 2006, 48 people were killed nationwide. Since then, the annual total has been falling. Last year, 11 people were killed across the country.
Wednesday’s death is the latest in the calendar year that the first death occurred. According to a 10-year average from the National Lightning Safety Council, April 7 is typically when the nation’s first lightning death is reported.
Lightning deaths are much more common in the summer months than the rest of the year. Since 2006, about a third of all deaths happened in July, 22% were in June and 17% in August.
According to the National Lightning Safety Council, your odds of being struck by lightning in any given year is 1 in 1,443,000.
