Electricity makes wonderful things possible. Electricity keeps us warm in winter, cool in summer, cooks our food, heats our water, cleans our clothes and powers our TVs, radios, video games and computers.

Electricity is also powerful so we must be careful when using it. Below are some tips on electrical safety:

• Never touch broken electrical cords or ones that have wire showing.



• Never stick your finger or any object into light sockets or electrical outlets.



• Do not pull on cords to unplug them. Hold on to the plug instead.



• Do not touch anything electrical while you are wet or standing in water.



• Stay far away from fallen power lines.



• Never fly kites or balloons near power lines – electricity can travel down kite strings or wires.



• Do not climb power poles or trees close to power lines.



• Do not touch or go near electrical equipment.



• Stay away from pad-mounted transformers – those are the metal cabinets on concrete pads that contain electrical equipment.

The Truth about Lightning

Summer brings some of the year's best weather, but unfortunately this season also provides more lightning storms than any other.

Lightning is created when electrical charges develop inside a storm cloud. Within the cloud, positively charged atoms go to the top and negatively charged atoms go to the bottom. If the negatively charged atoms become too crowded, they "jump" to another part of the cloud, to a different cloud, or to the ground. This jump causes a huge spark of static electricity called lightning.

On average, about 40 million lightning strikes hit the ground each year in the United States, according to Accu-Weather. You can easily calculate how close lightning is striking during a storm. Because sound travels about a mile in five seconds, you can start counting when you see a lightning flash. If you hear thunder in five seconds, the lighting is a mile away; in ten seconds, it is two miles away.

While the odds of being struck by lightning are 709,260 to 1, according to the National Lightning Safety Institute, follow these tips to help ensure your safety:

• Seek shelter in a house or large building (if you are in a car, stay there).
• Stay away from water and flat places.
• Get away from wire fences, clothes lines and metal.
• Stay low to the ground.
• Stand under a large group of trees, not just a lone tree.
• Make sure you're not the tallest object around.
• Don't use a phone, unless it's an emergency.