04-11-2008, 05:36 AM
Water in the soil & rock (aquifers) is a good conductor, so if the ground is saturated, the soil/rock will actually be a fairly decent conductor....
lucky thing here is that most of the time the ground is NOT saturated (some areas during the flood were saturated a couple of months ago...)
As for the low deaths...
Lightning is a relatively rare event in Hawaii. A good map of Lightning occurance worldwide is from "wikipedia":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightening
Interesting note: that article also notes that lightning can be discharged in volcanic eruptions.....due to the static discharge from the volcanic ash! oh Brianna!
lucky thing here is that most of the time the ground is NOT saturated (some areas during the flood were saturated a couple of months ago...)
As for the low deaths...
Lightning is a relatively rare event in Hawaii. A good map of Lightning occurance worldwide is from "wikipedia":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightening
Interesting note: that article also notes that lightning can be discharged in volcanic eruptions.....due to the static discharge from the volcanic ash! oh Brianna!