When Lightning Strikes, India Pays—in Lives, Uptime, and Assets
Key facts:
- Globally, lightning occurs roughly 40–50 times per second (≈1.4+ billion flashes/year). Wikipediavlfstanford.ku.edu.trScience On a Sphere
- In India, lightning incidents are rising; despite better awareness, fatalities remain high each monsoon. NDMA notes a 57% rise in occurrences (2019–2024) even as deaths fell ~22% due to mitigation efforts. National Disaster Management Authority
- Annual state media/official tallies still report large fatality spikes during severe events (e.g., 126 deaths in two days in Apr 2025 across UP–Bihar; regional surges in Maharashtra 2024–25). The New Indian ExpressBusiness Standard
Telecom towers, refineries and depots, coastal ports, data centers, and renewable plants sit in high-exposure zones. Grid disturbances and surges cascade into downtime, data loss, and safety incidents—costing crores.
A single strike at a tower site can knock out service across villages for hours; a surge at a data facility can corrupt storage arrays in seconds. For a refinery, it’s not just downtime—it’s life safety.
Traditional lightning rods ≠ prevention. They provide a path after initiation. Euthalia reduces the chance of formation in the protected zone.
• Global lightning activity: ~35–55 flashes/second depending on season (~1.1–1.7B/year). Vaisala measured ~2.10B total lightning events worldwide in 2023.
• India: ~7.2 million cloud-to-ground strikes in 2022–23. Lightning killed ~1,300 people in 2024.
• Euthalia: Ingelva Antimpatto® is positioned as “much more than a simple lightning rod,” delivering total lightning + surge protection via a preventive approach (charge management) rather than attraction. Euthalia+2Euthalia+2Giornale della Vela