. If the weather forecast calls for thunderstorms, postpone your outdoor trip or activity.

. Remember: When thunder roars, go indoors. Find a safe, enclosed shelter. Safe shelters include homes, offices, shopping centers, and hard-top vehicles with the windows rolled up.

. If you are caught in an open area, act quickly to find adequate shelter.

  . Immediately get off elevated areas such as hills, mountain ridges, or peaks.

  . Never lie flat on the ground. Crouch down in a ball-like position with your head tucked and hands over your ears so that you are down low with minimal contact with the ground.

  . Never shelter under an isolated tree.

  . Never use a cliff or rocky overhang for shelter.

  . Immediately get out of and away from ponds, lakes, and other bodies of water.

  . Stay away from objects that conduct electricity (such as barbed wire fences, power lines, or windmills).

. If you are in a group during a thunderstorm, separate from each other. This will reduce the number of injuries if lightning strikes the ground.

. If you are out in the open water and a storm rolls in, return to shore immediately.

. Avoid open vehicles such as convertibles, motorcycles, and golf carts.

. Avoid open structures such as porches, gazebos, baseball dugouts, and sports arenas. These structures won’t protect you from lightning.

. Stay away from open spaces such as golf courses, parks, playgrounds, ponds, lakes, swimming pools, and beaches. Seek shelter immediately.

. Stay away from tall structures, such as telephone poles and trees; lightning tends to strike the tallest object around.

Also read: Lightning kills another 20 people in Bihar