They say that lightning never strikes in the same place twice, but for insurers, it strikes over 250,000 times per year, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. In fact, the cost of homeowners’ claims for damage due to lightning strikes has increased dramatically — up 20 percent over the last three years. According to a new Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) analysis of homeowners’ insurance data, there were 256,000 lightning claims in 2006, causing about $882 million in insured losses. The I.I.I. puts the average claim for lightning at $3,446. By comparison, in 2004, there were about 278,000 lighting...