Lightning arresters to be installed on tall buildings in UP

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], July 23 (ANI): With the aim to protect people from lightning, which claims hundreds of lives every year, the Yogi government is going to install lightning arresters, or lightning rods, atop tall buildings in Uttar Pradesh.

The lightning rods attract lightning from the sky during lousy weather and send it underground, thus saving lives and preventing damage.
Recently, Relief Commissioner GS Naveen Kumar talked about the benefits of lightning arresters in the presence of Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra and informed that in 2022-23, 301 people had died due to lightning in 52 districts whereas 174 lives were lost due to lightning in 36 districts in 2023-24 till July.

He added that earlier a lot of people died due to lightning in districts like Sonbhadra, but now districts like Ghazipur are the most affected. “In this situation, we have sought reports from the districts as to where this lightning rod can be installed. According to the proposal, lightning arresters or lightning rods can be installed on the tallest buildings”.

A lightning rod or lightning conductor is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from lightning strikes.

If lightning strikes a structure, then it will directly strike the rod instead of passing through the structure, the rod will conduct it through a wire into the ground preventing damage to the structure. This can stop lightning from striking anywhere, preventing numerous fatalities from occurring.

When lightning strikes, it creates a large electromagnetic field that can induce high voltages in nearby conductive materials such as electrical wires and pipelines. This high voltage can damage the structure and potentially harm the people present inside and around it.

A lightning arrester or lightning rod provides a low-resistance path for the flow of lightning away from the structure and into the ground. It prevents damage and also protects people inside or around the structure from electric shock.