Overview
- A widely shared video shows lightning hitting the Eiffel Tower during a powerful Paris thunderstorm and has circulated across social media.
- Authorities and experts quoted in coverage say the monument shows no damage and remains safe after the strike.
- The tower's iron lattice acts like a Faraday cage so electrical current follows the metal framework into the ground instead of passing through people.
- Modern surge protection systems are in place to shield lifts, lighting and communications equipment from lightning-induced electrical spikes.
- The tower is struck several times a year, and management routinely closes parts of the site as a precaution during severe weather, with recent hot weather followed by strong storms increasing visible lightning events online.