This week is Lightning Week in Canada, which is well-timed given the storm in the southeast on Sunday night.

"Everybody in Saskatchewan loves a good lightning storm," said Meteorologist Terri Lang with Environment Canada. "However, lightning is dangerous. It kills and injures more Canadians in Canada than tornadoes do, so the rule of thumb is when thunder roars, go indoors. That means if you can hear thunder or see lightning, you're in danger of being struck."

She said the safest place to be during a thunderstorm is inside an enclosed building or inside your vehicle.

"Wait for the storm to pass before you go out again," Lang advised. 

While the vast majority of people being struck by lightning are not being struck directly, being directly struck is lethal in most cases. This is due to the immense current of electricity that goes through the body, stopping the heart.

However, Lang noted, "If you ever come across somebody that's been struck by lightning and their heart's stopped, you can give them CPR. They don't carry a charge or anything like that."

Most people, she pointed out, are indirectly struck by lightning. 

"They're standing under a tree, the tree gets struck by lightning, and the charge goes either through the ground and to them or jumps from the tree, or the pool or whatever, to the person," she explained. 

Lang said this type of strike is called a side splash.

"Sometimes it travels down metal fences. We see that a lot with cattle and horses being struck by lightning, plus they tend to stand together so the charge will go through all of them if it strikes the fence near them. So that's kind of how people are affected. So it's important to get inside those vehicles, inside a closed building."

"People go out on their decks and all that kind of stuff. It's not safe."

Lang added this time of year is peak lightning season.

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