South Florida averaging 2 lightning deaths and 8 injuries per year, NWS meteorologist says amid recent strikes

A Miami-Dade Sheriff's deputy is out of the hospital less than 24 hours after his vehicle was struck by lightning.

The strike occurred Thursday just after 5 p.m. near the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Training Center in Doral.

The incident is part of a series of lightning-related events across South Florida, including a fatality in Margate late last month where a mother and one of her twins were struck and killed.

"Over the last 30 years, we've been averaging about two lightning deaths and eight injuries per year across South Florida," said Ana Torres-Vazquez, lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service South Florida office.

Torres-Vazquez noted that while early summer was drier than usual, the recent increase in summer storms has elevated the risk.

"Going inside is the best solution. When you hear thunder, go indoors. That's going to be the safest place you can be," she said, adding that a vehicle is a viable alternative if indoors is not an option.

"The rubber doesn't really prevent lightning from impacting you; it's the exterior — the metal exterior of the car — that really helps conduct all that electricity that falls to the roof all the way down to the ground, and then it dissipates," she explained.

Lightning can travel miles from a storm, and officials suggest waiting 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder before heading back outdoors.