Atmospheric Research 135–136 (2014) 374–379
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Atmospheric Research
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/atmos
Lightning casualty demographics in Brazil and their
implications for safety rules
I. Cardoso a,⁎, O. Pinto Jr. a, I.R.C.A. Pinto a, R. Holle b
a
b
Atmospheric Electricity Group (ELAT), National Institute of Space Research, S. J. Campos, São Paulo, 12227-010, Brazil
Holle Meteorology & Photography, Oro Valley, AZ 85737, USA
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 13 January 2012
Received in revised form 1 October 2012
Accepted 13 December 2012
Keywords:
Lightning fatalities
Lightning deaths in Brazil
Lightning safety rules
a b s t r a c t
A 10-year study of lightning fatalities in Brazil is presented. It is the most complete study
undertaken in South America. The study indicates the death rates in the country sorted by
season, state, city, type of region, age, gender and circumstances. Ten years of data were
collected from the Federal Civil Defense Agency, the Ministry of Health and the media press.
The circumstances of lightning fatalities in Brazil were compared with other countries that
have this information available. It also includes an analysis of the differences involved in
lightning deaths in each region of Brazil. The results suggest that specific actions should be
adopted in terms of lightning protection to minimize risks. Finally, this study provides useful
information in order to identify the most important lightning safety rules for the country.
© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Many studies describing lightning fatalities have been
published in many countries, including the United States
(López and Holle, 1998; Holle and López, 2003; Holle et al.,
2005), Australia (Coates et al., 1993), Canada (Mills et al., 2006),
United Kingdom (Elsom, 2001), France (Gourbière, 1998), Spain
(Aguado et al., 2000), Greece (Agoris et al., 2002), and Swaziland
(Dlamini, 2009), among others. Recently, Holle (2008) has summarized most studies already published in many countries.
However, there has been almost no systematic information
about lightning deaths in many regions of the world, making it
difficult to estimate the global annual rate of lightning fatalities
(Holle and López, 2003; Cardoso, 2011; Gomes and Ab Kadir,
2011).
In this paper, the results of a very comprehensive study
about lightning fatalities in Brazil in the last decade are
presented. The study is the first conducted in Brazil and, as
far as we know, in South America. Ten years of data, collected
from different sources including the Federal Civil Defense
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 12 32086829.
E-mail addresses: iara.cardoso@inpe.br (I. Cardoso), osmar@dge.inpe.br
(O. Pinto), iara@dge.inpe.br (I.R.C.A. Pinto), rholle@earthlink.net (R. Holle).
0169-8095/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2012.12.006
Agency and the Ministry of Health, are sorted by season, state,
types of area (rural, urban, roads and beaches), gender and
circumstances. The results suggest that specific actions should
be adopted in terms of lightning protection to minimize risks in
Brazil. Based on that, the most important lightning safety rules
for the country are emphasized.
2. Data
Lightning fatalities were studied from 2000 to 2009 based
on data collected from different sources. A total of 1321 cases
were recorded, that is, an average of 132 cases per year.
Considering the average population of Brazil during this
period (180 million people), the annual rate of fatalities was 0.8
per million. From this total, 81% were males and 19% females,
with small variations in different regions (the percentage
of males varies from 88% in the Center region to 74% in the
northeast region). The Southeast region presented the largest
number of fatalities (29%), followed by the Center (19%), North
and Northeast (18%) and South region (17%). Considering the
population of different regions, the annual death rate varied
from 0.5 deaths per million (Southeast and Northeast) to 2.2
deaths per million (Center). Fig. 1 shows a map of the regions
and states of Brazil.
I. Cardoso et al. / Atmospheric Research 135–136 (2014) 374–379
375
Fig. 1. Map with the regions and the states of Brazil.
When the data are sorted by ages, the maximum number of
fatalities occurs in the group aged 20–39 with 43%, followed
by the group aged 0–19 with 27%, 40–59 with 23% and >60
with 7%. If the number of fatalities is normalized by age, the
respective numbers of fatalities per million people in each
group are 1.29, 0.38, 1.51 and 0.72; therefore, the group that
has the higher risk (1.51) of being struck by lightning is aged
40–59. A summary of these results is showed in Table 1.
Most fatalities occurred in the rural area (61%), followed
by the urban area (26%), beaches (8%) and roads (5%). In
addition, 85% of the fatalities occurred outdoors while 15%
occurred indoors. The most common circumstances related to
the fatalities were rural activities (19%), followed by people
inside houses (15%), near transportation (14%), under a tree
(12%), playing soccer (10%), in open structures (9%) and at the
beach (7%). A summary of these results is shown in Table 2.
The study shows that the percentage of fatalities associated with the category inside houses is similar to some
Table 1
Number of fatalities normalized by age groups in Brazil from 2000 to 2009.
Age group
Fatalities normalized per million people
0–19
20–39
40–59
>60
1.29
0.38
1.51
0.72
categories associated with outdoor activities, a surprising
result since houses with proper plumbing, wiring and metal
structural materials are very safe from lightning. The most
common circumstances of lightning fatalities recorded inside
houses were: staying at a hard-wired telephone or a cell phone
connected to the charger, close to lamps, refrigerators, windows,
televisions and antennas, and houses with dirt floors. This result
suggests that the houses involved in the fatalities are not safe
from lightning because they lack adequate protection.
Other statistics include: 45% of the fatalities occurred in
the summer (December 24th to March 23rd); the state with
the maximum number of fatalities in the decade was Sao Paulo
(230 cases or 17%), followed by Rio Grande do Sul (106 cases),
Minas Gerais (99 cases), Mato Grosso do Sul (89 cases) and
Goias (80 cases). In terms of cities, the maximum number of
Table 2
Percentage of lightning fatalities for different circumstances in
Brazil from 2000 to 2009.
Circumstance
Fatalities (%)
Rural activities
Inside houses
Near transportation
Under a tree
Playing soccer
Open structures
At the beach
19
15
14
12
10
9
7
376
I. Cardoso et al. / Atmospheric Research 135–136 (2014) 374–379
fatalities in the decade was recorded in Manaus in the Amazon
region (16 cases) followed by São Paulo (14 cases). This last
number indicates that the annual death rate in the city of Sao
Paulo is 0.14 per million.
The analysis of the results also shows that there are
significant percent changes in the circumstances for different
regions in Brazil. This is illustrated in Table 3. While the
largest number of fatalities is related to rural activities, some
numbers deserve special attention. For instance, the number
of fatalities related to telephone use is very large in the center
region, while almost no events of this kind were observed in
other regions. Another example is the larger number of fatalities
related to soccer in the northern region compared to the other
regions. Such differences suggest specific actions that should
be adopted by the public authorities in order to avoid lightning
fatalities.
Table 4 shows the total number of fatalities in the decade
per state, the population and the rate of lightning fatalities
per million people per year. The largest number of fatalities
occurs in the State of Sao Paulo, which is directly related to
the fact that this state has the largest population. The highest
annual death rates in Brazil are in the State of Tocantins (4.6),
followed by Mato Grosso do Sul (4.3). On the other hand, the
lowest annual death rates occur in Paraiba and Sergipe (0.1).
No cases were registered in Amapa. The annual death rates
can be interpreted as the average probability of a person
being struck by lightning and die in each region and not the
probability for different situations, which can change significantly. For instance, if one person is in an open field during a
strong thunderstorm, this probability can be one per thousand
instead of one per million.
The localization of the 1321 cases of lightning fatalities,
recorded in the period from 2000 to 2009, can be seen in the
map of Brazil in Fig. 2. In addition, Fig. 3 shows a map of Sao
Paulo with the location of lightning fatalities in this state.
3. Lightning incidence in Brazil
Since the number of lightning fatalities is related to the
incidence of lightning, we calculated the annual number of
lightning flashes in Brazil observed by the Lightning Imaging
Sensor (LIS), an optical sensor on board the TRMM satellite
(Christian et al., 1999), for the same period of the data of
fatalities. The LIS data are corrected by the sensor detection
efficiency and by the view time of the sensor at different
locations in Brazil (Boccippio et al., 2002). Fig. 4 shows the
annual number of lightning fatalities and lightning flashes in
Table 3
Percentage of lightning fatalities for different circumstances for each region
of Brazil.
Circumstance
Southeast
South
Center
North
Northeast
Rural activities
Near transportation
Telephone
Inside houses
Under a tree
Ball field
Near fences
Others
17
14
1
14
9
12
1
32
25
19
–
7
12
–
–
37
20
9
20
6
20
–
6
19
12
18
–
20
15
20
–
15
23
13
–
21
6
9
1
27
Table 4
Total number of lightning fatalities in the decade, population of each state
and the average rate per million per year of a person being struck by
lightning and die for each state of Brazil.
State
Fatalities
Population
Rate
Acre (AC)
Alagoas (AL)
Amapa (AP)
Amazonas (AM)
Bahia (BA)
Ceara (CE)
Distrito Federal (DF)
Espirito Santo (ES)
Goias (GO)
Maranhao (MA)
Mato Grosso (MT)
Mato Grosso do Sul (MS)
Minas Gerais (MG)
Para (PA)
Paraiba (PB)
Parana (PR)
Pernambuco (PE)
Piaui (PI)
Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
Rio Grande do Norte (RN)
Rio Grande do Sul (RS)
Rondonia (RO)
Roraima (RR)
Santa Catarina (SC)
Sao Paulo (SP)
Sergipe (SE)
Tocantins (TO)
Brazil
9
9
0
59
50
45
9
16
80
37
73
89
99
72
3
79
26
50
34
14
106
32
9
36
230
2
53
1321
557,882
2,827,856
477,032
2,817,252
13,085,768
7,431,597
2,051,146
3,097,498
5,004,197
5,657,552
2,505,245
2,078,070
17,905,133
6,195,965
3,444,794
9,564,643
7,929,154
2,843,428
14,392,105
2,777,509
10,187,842
1,380,952
324,397
5,357,864
37,035,456
1,784,829
1,157,690
169,872,856
1.7
0.3
–
2
0.4
0.6
0.4
0.5
1.6
0.6
2.9
4.3
0.5
1.2
0.1
0.8
0.3
1.8
0.2
0.5
1
2.3
2.8
0.7
0.6
0.1
4.6
0.8
Brazil from 2000 to 2009. Both quantities have a maximum in
2001, confirming the expected relationship. However, they
show minor variations not directly related suggesting that
other aspects should be considered when correlating these
variables, such as spatial distribution of lightning flashes and
population, regional changes in the population activities (such
as the percentage of people in rural areas), LIS data limitations
in terms of time coverage, media coverage of lightning deaths,
and so on.
4. Fatalities in Brazil versus other countries
In the United States the overall death rate due to lightning
from 2000 to 2006 is 0.2 per million people (Holle, 2008), a
smaller value than the death rate of Brazil (0.8 per million
people). Of the total number of fatalities, the percentage of
males is 82% and the females 18%, almost the same values
found in Brazil. The percentage of fatalities for different
groups, compared to Brazil, indicates similar values (Table 5).
The state with the largest number of fatalities is Florida
with an average of 12.6 deaths per year in the period from
1990 to 2003 (Storm Data, NOAA). In the state of Sao Paulo
the number of fatalities was 23 deaths per year. Considering
the average population of both states during the period, the
annual death rate is 0.8 per million people in Florida and 0.6
in Sao Paulo.
The circumstances related to the fatalities are different in
Brazil and in the United States. Recreational or sports-related
activities, such as fishing, camping and golfing, are the main
I. Cardoso et al. / Atmospheric Research 135–136 (2014) 374–379
377
Fig. 2. Location of lightning deaths by county in Brazil from 2000 to 2009. Counties in white had no reported fatalities during the period.
circumstance involved in lightning-related deaths in the USA,
while in Brazil most fatalities occur with people working in
the rural areas in agriculture. The percentages of fatalities for
other circumstances, such as ball field, on the telephone or
under a tree are summarized in Table 6.
In Australia, the overall death rate from 1910 to 1989 is
0.8 per million population (Coates et al., 1993), the same value
of Brazil. The group that has been most at risk in Australia
is that of males aged 15–19, different than Brazil and in the
United States is males aged 30–39. The male to female ratio of
victims is 5.3 in 1980–1989, a value higher than the values
observed in Brazil (4.2) and in the United States (4.4). About
86% of fatalities have occurred outdoors and 14% have occurred
indoors, again almost the same value of Brazil.
The above comparisons, however, should be considered with
care, since they correspond to different decades.
5. Conclusions
The annual number of lightning fatalities per million people
in Brazil is 0.8, a higher value than the average observed in
developed countries 0.2 (Holle, 2008). In part, the difference
can be explained by a larger percentage of the population
involved in rural activities (about 35%) in Brazil compared to
developed countries. The annual number of fatalities is related
to the annual incidence of flashes in the country, although
other aspects should be considered to fully understand the
annual variations of fatalities.
378
I. Cardoso et al. / Atmospheric Research 135–136 (2014) 374–379
Fig. 3. Location of lightning deaths by county in the state of Sao Paulo from 2000 to 2009. Counties in white had no reported fatalities during the period.
Based on the results of this study, the main actions to be
avoided during a thunderstorm in order to decrease the annual
number of lightning fatalities in Brazil are:
– Staying in contact with plumbing, wiring, and telephones
at home.
– Staying in open structures.
– Working in agricultural activities.
– Staying outside and near any vehicle.
– Staying in an open field (ball field, beaches) or under a tree.
Instead, the public should be taught to go to a large
substantial building or fully-enclosed metal-topped vehicle
and stay inside until the storm is finished at their location.
Fig. 4. Annual number of lightning fatalities (solid line) and lightning flashes observed by LIS (dashed line) in Brazil from 2000 to 2009. The arrows near the
curves indicated the associated vertical axis.
I. Cardoso et al. / Atmospheric Research 135–136 (2014) 374–379
Table 5
Percentage of fatalities for different groups of age in the United States and
Brazil.
Age
Brazil (%)
US (%)
0–19
20–39
40–59
>60
27
43
23
7
19
40
31
10
Table 6
Percentage of lightning fatalities for different circumstances in the United
States and Brazil.
Circumstance
Brazil (%)
US (%)
Telephone
Under a tree
Ball field
2
12
10
0.2
19
3
It is important to realize that these actions are the most
important safety rules for Brazil.
Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges the Brazilian Federal Civil Defense
Agency, the Brazilian Ministry of Health and the NASA GHCC
Lightning Team for providing data for this research.
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