The National Weather Service (NWS) recorded the fifth lightning fatality the past week as a motorcyclist from North Carolina was struck and killed in Mount Mitchell State Park last Saturday.
Three others were killed on Thursday alone, while another succumbed to injuries after being hit in Dover, Tennessee, NWS said.
The deaths bring the tally of lightning victims across the US to 14 so far this year. On average, the US sees 49 deaths due to lightning every year.
AccuWeather Meteorologist Brian Lada said that all thunderstorms produce lightning, and that these weather occurrences take little to claim lives and cause damage to property.
An estimated 25 million lightning flashes hit the US every year.
Lada advised those caught in thunderstorms to seek shelter in enclosed vehicles and stay indoors to avoid lightning strikes. Such flashes can strike people and structures 10 miles from rainstorms, and on rare cases, can travel as far as 50 miles from a parent thunderstorm.
