ORLANDO, FLA.

Florida represents a paradise found for folks escaping frigid northern climes.

Newcomers, however, may not realize that while the state has natural beauty, it is also fraught with natural threats.

Consider lightning strikes: Central Florida is the U.S. capital. And statewide, lightning causes more deaths than all other weather events combined, according to the National Weather Service.

Florida has been socked by three of the 10 deadliest hurricanes, eight of the most costly and five of the most intense, according to data compiled by the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Florida has shark attacks on the coast and sinkholes pockmarking its porous interior. Tornadoes have raked the region several times. And the 18 million or so Floridians share this uncertain environment with about 1.25 million alligators, a native species known to attack people occasionally, and an estimated "tens of thousands" of Burmese pythons, a non-native species that is living up to its alpha-predator status.

Here's a rundown on some of Florida's natural hazards.

Although a Sumter County girl's asphyxiation last month by a pet Burmese python brought a lot of attention to this species, state wildlife officials say these snakes present a low risk for human attack. Still, the constrictors pose a real threat to native wildlife habitats in and around the Everglades. They prey on mammals, birds and reptiles.

Any slithering, wild predator that can grow to 26 feet and more than 200 pounds is a concern. That's especially true when you consider that female Burmese can lay 50 to 100 eggs at a time. Some estimates suggest 100,000 of these snakes are thriving in South Florida.

When it comes to weather events, lightning is the deadliest phenomenon, meteorologists say. A total of 449 people in Florida were killed and 1,788 injured by lightning strikes between 1959 and 2007. On average, that means nine people are killed and 39 injured each year by lightning strikes. Weather experts say you have roughly a one-in-five chance of being killed here if you're struck by lightning.

Between 1882 and 2008, Florida had 610 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks, including 13 fatal attacks, according to the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History. The last deadly shark attack occurred in 2005 in Gulf waters off Walton County. Volusia County holds the title of shark-attack capital of the world with 231 confirmed attacks -- but none fatal -- during that 126-year period.

Between 1851 and 2006, Florida's peninsula was battered by 113 hurricanes, including 37 major storms measuring Category 3, 4 or 5. No other state comes close when considering overall hurricane landfalls and major storm totals. During that same 155-year period, the United States experienced 96 major hurricanes between Texas and Maine. While Florida was hit by more than a third of the major storms, Texas endured 19 major storms, Louisiana 20 and Mississippi nine.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission lists a total 489 unprovoked and provoked alligator bites in Florida involving humans from 1948 up through this year. Among the unprovoked bites, 210 were considered major, and that count includes 22 fatalities. Since 1999, Florida has had 12 fatal alligator attacks, according to FWC stats. The last fatal bite was in 2007.

The most reported alligator bites came in 2001, when 25 people were victims. Three of the bites that year were fatal.