Storms are at least as good as drought and temperature in explaining the patterns of tree mortality and forest carbon storage. Thunderstorms may be the largest single factor causing tree death in tropical forests–responsible for 30 to 60% of tree mortality in the past. That number must be increasing as storm activity increases by 5 to 25% each decade.
www.caryinstitute.org/news-insights/press-release/thunderstorms-are-major-driver-tree-death-tropical-forests