On 20 August 2026, at about 2pm, the sky over Dhaka was bright and cloudless. Children were playing on rooftops and residents had put clothes out to dry in the fierce afternoon sun. Then came a deafening crack.
Lightning struck the corner of a rooftop in Dhaka Udyan, in the capital’s Mohammadpur neighborhood. There was no rain, no visible flash and, to those on the ground, no sign of a storm.
People fled indoors.
Masudul Alam Bhuiyan, a resident of the area, said the incident had exposed a worrying gap in safety measures in one of the world’s most densely populated cities. Many buildings, he believes, may not have adequate lightning protection. What happened on his roof, he fears, could one day become a fatal accident.
Locals described it as “lightning from a clear sky”. Meteorologists offer a more complicated explanation. A seemingly clear sky does not necessarily mean the atmosphere is free of thunderstorms. Powerful lightning-producing clouds several kilometres away can send electrical discharges through relatively clear air and strike the ground far from the storm itself.
For a city increasingly defined by concrete, steel and vertical growth, that possibility raises an uncomfortable question: are Dhaka’s buildings prepared for a hazard traditionally associated with rural fields and open landscapes?
A growing urban risk
Bangladesh has long suffered heavy losses from lightning. Farmers, fishermen and people working in haors and open fields remain particularly vulnerable. But the rapid expansion of Dhaka’s built environment is creating a different set of risks.
Modern rooftops are crowded with water tanks, antennas, telecommunications equipment, solar panels and metal structures. Older buildings may have defective electrical systems, inadequate earthing or no functioning lightning protection system at all.
Engineers and urban experts say installing a lightning rod alone is not enough. A properly designed lightning protection system must provide a safe path for electrical current to reach the ground through appropriate conductors and a reliable earthing system.
“The lightning protection system needs to be assessed according to the building, its height, location and surroundings,” experts say. A hospital, school, factory and residential building may each require different protection.
Thousands killed
Lightning was declared a national disaster in Bangladesh in 2016. Yet deaths remain substantial. According to government figures, 3,835 people died from lightning strikes between 2015 and 2025. The annual toll included 350 deaths in 2025 and 271 in 2024.
The danger peaks during the pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons. Research based on data from 2015 to 2020 found that roughly 73% of lightning incidents occurred between March and June, when farmers are also spending long hours in fields harvesting crops.
Warnings from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department can help, but forecasts offer little protection to someone working in an exposed field or on a remote haor with no nearby shelter.
Dhaka cannot assume it is safe
Meteorologist Md Bazlur Rashid said the phrase “lightning from a clear sky” can be misleading. There may be clouds within 10 to 15km of the location even when the sky directly overhead appears clear. Such strikes are rare, but possible.
Urban planner Adil Muhammad Khan said a distant thunderstorm can produce a strike several kilometres away. In the Mohammadpur incident, he suggested that inadequate protection coverage, defective earthing or poor maintenance could explain why lightning reached part of the building despite protective equipment.
He recommends modern lightning protection systems for older buildings, dedicated earthing pits and regular testing. Thick copper or aluminium conductors should safely carry the electrical discharge to the ground, while proper insulation should prevent contact with vulnerable parts of the building.
Dhaka’s lightning problem may still be rare compared with the risks faced in Bangladesh’s fields and wetlands. But as the city grows taller, its rooftops are becoming part of the country’s exposure to an increasingly unpredictable atmosphere.
The lesson from that cloudless August afternoon is simple: a blue sky is not necessarily a safe sky.
