Unusual Lightning Strike and Earthquake Frequency/Damage Graphics

[Appollynon]

Here in the UK we have had a lot of lightening strikes which have made headline news due to them hitting houses and populated areas, but I have never heard of a lightening strike quite like the one reported below.

I have heard a few people on the web talking about the possibility that the Grand Canyon may have been formed not from a meteoric impact as the normal theory goes, but from a cataclysmic lightning storm. Articles like this one and the increase in stories in the UK news make me wonder if we will see an increase in the power/damage and frequency of lightning storms/strikes due to the increased energy the earth is absorbing? In other words, if weather such as the hurricanes are increasing in frequency and intensity, can we logically expect the same from other types of weather phenomenon such as the lightening storms due to global warming?

Link here http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Lightning_Blows_Up_Tree_Damages_17_Homes_In_Florida_999.html

by Staff Writers
Miami (AFP) Aug 16, 2006
A lightning strike in the Florida city of Cape Coral caused a dead tree to explode in a massive blast that sent debris flying over a two-block radius and damaged 17 houses, the local fire department said Wednesday. "In 18 years with the fire department, I've never seen anything like that," Deputy Fire Chief Christopher Mikell told AFP.
He said the 12-meter (40-foot) pine tree was hit by lightning during a thunderstorm on Monday and exploded "almost like a bomb."
The tree had already been struck by lightning last year, apparently during a hurricane, causing decay that may have produced pockets of gases, said Mikell.
One person was lightly injured and treated on the spot, and 17 houses were damaged, "two to the point of being uninhabitable," said Mikell.
"Sections of the tree were found as far as 500 feet (150 meters) away. ... There was damage within two blocks of the location," he said.
Lightning kills more people in Florida than any other US state, with 85 deaths recorded in the 1995-2004 period.
"We see a lot of lightning damage. That's not unusual," said Mikell. "But I've never seen a blast effect like this."

I thought also that some readers on site may be interested in the below graphics courtesy of the Millennium Ark earthquake prediction site. Im not a big fan of the site other than the pictures they sometimes find, and occasional news stories relating to Earthchanges

Rising Earthquake Frequency

Rising Frequency of Earthquakes Affecting People

Rising Number of People Global Disasters (natural disasters)