[Table of Contents]

D. 1990s DAMAGES

Storm Data from 1991 to 1994 contains many damage entries (Tables 45 and 46). When an entry described more than one object impacted on the same date or in the same region, each description of a damaged object is listed separately in these tables, for a total of 3,242 separate descriptions. The Utilities category includes the distribution of power and water, as well as telephone and cable systems, and the collection of wastewater.

TABLE 45. Frequency of lightning damages in the 1990s by major category.
Category Events Percent
Animals 113 3
Businesses 259 8
Churches 85 3
Dwellings 1613 50
Farms 203 6
Oil/gas 94 3
Public facilities 147 5
Transportation 85 3
Utilities 401 12
Miscellaneous 242 7
Total 3242  

 

TABLE 46. Detailed description of lightning damages in the 1990s.
  Category Events
Animals

Cattle/livestock

 70

Horses

 17

Dogs

 10

Hogs

 4

Bulls and cattle

 3

Bulls

2

Chickens

 2

Camels

 1

Heifers

 1

Hens

 1

Hogs and chickens

 1

Steers, horses, and rabbits

 1
Total 113
Businesses

Building/business

 98

Radio station knocked off air/damaged

 15

Communication/radio system

 13

Store

 11

Hotel/motel

 9

Television/radio transmission/tower/antenna

 9

Warehouse

 7

Factory

 6

Mill

 6

Nursing home

 4

Plant

 4

Building electrical equipment

 3

Chemical company

 3

Greenhouse

 3

Restaurant

 3

Retirement home

 3

Bank

 2

Bar/saloon

 2

Cable television outage

 2

Car dealership

 2

Clothing manufacturing factory

 2

Furniture factory

 2

Furniture store

 2

Lumber storage building

 2

Lumber yard

 2

Television transmitter/tower

 2

Antique store

 1

Auto detail shop

 1

Auto repair shop

 1

Billboard

 1

Body shop

 1

Bowling alley

 1

Cable television transformer

 1

Clothing store

 1

Company/business computers

 1

Day care center

 1

Department store

 1

Doctor's office

 1

Drug store

 1

Electric and cable transmitter

 1

Farm implement store

 1

Finishing mill

 1

Funeral home

 1

Industrial plant

 1

Lounge

 1

Jewelry store

 1

Manufacturing center

 1

Manufacturing plant

 1

Packhouse

 1

Polyester fabric bales

 1

Repair shop

 1

Retirement village

 1

Rug factory

 1

Satellite dish

 1

Scrap metal company

 1

Service station

 1

Sheet metal shop

 1

Shopping plaza

 1

Sign shop

 1

Sportsman's club

 1

Storage facility

 1

Sulfur storage tank

 1

Supply center

 1

T-shirt factory

 1

Television weather radar/tower camera

 1

Textile plant

 1

Vinegar tanks

 1

Water well motor

 1
Total 259
Churches

Church

 84

Church sanctuary

 1
Total 85
Dwellings

Heavy damage/fire

 380

Minor damage/fire

 312

Minor damage/no fire

 259

House destroyed by fire

 167

Heavy damage/no fire

 107

Destroyed/damaged-fire unknown

 70

Mobile home

 55

Audio/visual/phone/computer/equipment/appliances

 46

Contents of house destroyed by fire

 41

Apartment damaged by fire

 35

Garage

30

Electrical system/equipment in house

 18

Apartment destroyed by fire

 16

House damaged by tree

 13

Apartment damaged-no fire

 10

Cabin/log home

 10

Apartment-electrical equipment

 6

Air conditioner

 3

Chimney

 3

Cottage

 3

Television set

 3

Trailer

 3

Utility building with house

 3

Water lines at house

 3

House trailer

 2

Mobile home near tree

 2

Basketball hoop

 1

Electric appliances

 1

Electrical line and cable television converter box

 1

Garage door opener

 1

Mailbox

 1

Dog shed

 1

Porch

 1

Solar panel on house

 1

Telephone, television, and dishwasher in house

 1

Television set and personal computers

 1

Townhouse-heavy damage

 1

Trampoline

 1

Workshop

 1
Total 1613
Farms

Barn destroyed

 59

Barn damaged

 50

Barn and contents destroyed

 47

Hay

 16

Pasture/wheat field fire

 9

Chicken house

 4

Grain elevator

 4

Corn crib

 2

Poultry farm

 2

Silo & contents destroyed

 2

Alfalfa bales

 1

Dairy

 1

Food plant

1

Hen house

1

Hog house

 1

Milk house

 1

Stable

1

Sugar house

 1
Total 203
Oil/gas

Oil/petroleum/natural gas tank/battery/storage tank

 79

Gas main/line

 7

Oil tank farm

 2

Oil wells

 2

Propane gas company

 1

Propane tank

 1

Oil pumping station

 1

Oil refinery

 1
Total 94
Public facilities

School/college

 39

Police station radio and television service

 12

Water treatment plant

 9

911 system

 6

City hall building

 5

Court house

 4

Hospital

 4

Police radio

 4

Fire station radio and telephone equipment

 3

Library

 3

Police radio transmitter/tower

 3

Sewer treatment plant

 3

City hall telephone and radio equipment

 2

Court house telephone and communications equipment

 2

Emergency Operations Center radio tower

 2

Fire station dispatch

 2

Hospital electrical equipment

 2

National Weather Service radar

 2

National Weather Service radar, personal computers, and telephone

 2

Police personal computer equipment

 2

Summer camp

 2

Air traffic control tower

 1

Bath house at campground

 1

City hall telephone and alarm system

 1

Communications center

 1

Community hall

 1

Concession stand

 1

Concrete statue

 1

County court house telephone and electric equipment

 1

County jail radio equipment

 1

Emergency operations center

 1

FAA building at airport

 1

Family service center

 1

Fire department main alarm system

 1

Fire department radio

 1

Fire station

 1

Gymnasium

 1

Lodge

 1

Lodge hall phone system

 1

Medical center

 1

Medical clinic

 1

Museum

 1

National Weather Service personal computer equipment

 1

Pier

 1

Police and fire radio and antenna system

 1

Police station (structural)

 1

Pool

 1

Postal building

 1

Public safety building radio consoles

 1

Pump station

 1

Pump house at pool

 1

Sewer pump system

 1

Silt damn

 1

Traffic lights

 1

Water tank

 1
Total 147
Transportation

Automobile

 40

Truck

 8

Car near tree

 7

Boat

6

Plane

 3

Tractors

 3

Van

 3

Barge

 2

Combine

 2

Motor home

 2

Plane in air

 2

Golf cart

 1

Motorcycle

 1

Land moving machine

 1

Recreational vehicle

 1

Recreational vehicle (tree fell on it)

 1

Sail boat

 1

Truck (tree fell on it)

 1
Total 85
Utilities

Outage of power or phone system in building

 261

Transformer

 59

Electric/power company (wires)

 24

Power pole

 10

Substation

 8

Telephone (lines or company)

 7

Outage of telephone service

 5

Utility pole

 4

Electrical insulator

 3

Nuclear plant

 2

Conductor

 1

Electric street car outage

 1

Gas meter

 1

Hospital power plant

 1

Lightning arrestor

 1

Light pole

 1

Manhole explosion

 1

Outage of telephone and electric services

 1

Outage of telephone, cable, and electric services

 1

Phone box

 1

Power lines due to tree

 1

Power station

 1

Telephone switching equipment

 1

Town water pipeline

 1

Traffic lights and utility poles

 1

Transmission pole

 1

Waste water pumping station

 1

Water shutoff valve

 1
Total 401
Miscellaneous

Forest/brush fire

 105

Tree

 67

Storage shed

 18

Storage building

 12

Electrical equipment

 10

Airport runway

 5

Telephone and computer equipment

 4

Scattered electrical equipment

 3

Outbuilding

 2

Spotter weather station

 2

Tool shed

 2

Antenna

 1

Building under construction

 1

Generator

 1

Log building

 1

Machine shed

 1

Radio transmitter

 1

Road grader

 1

Storage tanks

 1

Surge protector

 1

Utility shed

 1

Well pump

 1

Wind turbine

 1
Total 242

The dollar amounts of many of these losses were noted in Storm Data. Nearly three-fourths of the damages are between $500 and $50,000.

TABLE 47. Frequency of lightning damages in the 1990s by range of dollar loss.
Damage range Number %
$0- $50 15 <1
$50- $500 322 10
$500- $5,000 1278 38
$5,000- $50,000 1174 35
$50,000- $500,000 476 14
$500,000- $5,000,000 40 1
Unknown 28 1
Total 3333  

 

Next: Chapter 5: Lightning Impacts in 1890s Compared to 1990s