When the World Trade Center stood, lightning regularly struck its towers and was safely discharged to the ground. Now, scientists say, lower Manhattan may be much more vulnerable to lightning.
With the 110-story office buildings gone, meteorologists and engineers have been given new impetus to study how lightning behaves in urban areas and how best to protect city dwellers.
The issue received little attention after Sept. 11, in part because New York had so few storms this year. But on Aug. 2, when a powerful thunderstorm struck, a 25-year-old man was killed by lightning while on the roof of a six-story apartment building about a mile from the World Trade Center site.
“My first thought was, that wouldn’t have happened if the World Trade Center were still there,” said Jack Buchsbaum, chief electrical engineer of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owned the twin towers.
