Lightning Damage

http://www.weather.com/storms/severe/news/lightning-damage-trees-homes-buildings-ground-20130719#/1

8.6 Million. That's how many times, on average, lightning strikes the Earth every day. That's about 100 times each second.

According to a 2004 study by lightning researchers, Dr. E. Phillip Krider and Kenneth Kehoe, the U.S. alone is hit about 30 million times each year by lightning.  

With temperatures up to four times as hot as the sun (up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit), concentrated into a channel often as slender as a pencil, it's no wonder lightning can be destructive and deadly.