Has anyone been struck by lightning??

[bantymum]

Hi all, we had a bad electical storm here last night.
I was outside after collecting the little ducklings and putting them inside to keep dry.
I heard a loud BANG and the lightning struck my satellite dish above me. it blew it up.
Then I noticed both my arms were tingling and sore, they stayed like that for about an hour, we had a short blackout as well. Im glad I had my gumboots on.
Im thanking my lucky stars today!!!!

 

[skeeter9]

Oh, that's scarey! Last year we had a horrible lightning storm come over the mountain while my daughter and I were at our neighbor's taking care of their horses. As my daughter reached for one of the metal gates a huge bolt of lightning ripped through the sky right at us. The actual bolt didn't hit the gate, but there were smaller arms coming off of the main bolt and one of them hit the gate. It threw my daughter back and she was in quite a bit of pain for a while. It was really scarey. We made it back to the barn, but couldn't get any cell signal to call for help and couldn't get to the truck without risking getting hit again - the lightning was striking all over the place. Thank God my daughter was ok, but we were both really scared - we could feel the electricity in the air - it was creepy.

I'm glad you're ok - sounds like you absorbed some of the electricity from the lightning!!

 

[rooster-red]

I have.
I got hit from a bolt that ran down a tree.
It hit me in my right thigh, burned a hole in my jeans and singed all the hair off my leg. The burn took ages to heal.

It stopped my heart and I bolted on pure adrenilen (SP) toward my front door. I thought I was going to die right there on my porch.

I don't know why, but my heart started beating again. Every nerve in my body was on fire, I shook uncontrolably for a little over 3 hours.

You couldn't make me walk outside now during an electrical storm even if you held a gun to my head.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I can't say I've been struck by lightning, but I've been shocked more times than I care to count. I've had my hands latched onto energized equipment, hollering for somebody to pull the plug. I blistered the back of my hand working on a 480V streetlight circuit. I built a very large Tesla coil in my garage about 10 years ago. That thing put 3 to 4 foot arcs (read lightning bolts) out into the air. I was fiddling with a flourescent tube, the RF energy from the Tesla coil made it light up without any wires. I figured I wouldn't get shocked if I held the 4' tube in the center. As I brought it closer to the coil, a two foot, white hot arc, about the diameter of my thumb struck the end of the tube, the entire tube lit up, a two foot arc came out of the other and struck me in the shoulder. That's as close to a lightning strike as I care to get, although I am fascinated by a good lightning storm.

I'm guessing the lightning strike scared the hell out of you and what you felt was an after effect of the scare. It's hard to say. After I was latched onto that piece of equipment with all my muscles clenched tight my chest hurt for a while afterwards just from the muscle contraction. Other than that I've had no lingering effects that I can think of. That I can think of. That I can think of. That I can think of. Oops, sorry...

 

[bantymum]

Yes Ive come close when I was having my horse shod, i didnt want to be out there but the farrier was hard to get hold of and he wanted to keep going with the shoeing so I just prayed.
A bolt hit the fence about 12 feet away behind us and blew up a telecommunications black box.
I swore id never get outside in a storm again and I havent until last night.
I really needed a smoke after the shock but couldnt go outside for one and I dont smoke inside.

 

[jenichick]

I have! I was in the garage, standing with my hand on the door looking at the rain. The lightening bold traveled through the ground and up the metal frame of the door where my hand was. It knocked be back a few feet, my right arm went numb, my heart started beating weird, my hair on the right side curled up and raised up a few inches. It took a few minutes for the heart to get back to a normal beat, my hand and shoulder hurt for a couple of days. I won't go outside at all during a storm now.

Oh, and a wierd thing that's happened since, and my entire family has seen this happen, I've blown over 50 light bulbs in the house in the year since that happened. I reach up with my right hand turn the light on and poof, the bulb blows! DH went to Sam's Club to buy a wholesale pack to keep them replaced. No kidding!

 

[mom'sfolly]

I haven't been struck, but have seen lightning hit in my yard. There is a power pole on the propery line with a small transformer on it. About 10 years ago I was standing at the kitchen sink when lightning hit the transformer. It looked like a giant sparkler, blue-white light running up and down the pole and out the wires. It lite up the yard like daytime and seemed to last forever. The sound was incredible and the ozone smell so strong I could smell it in the house.. Cool but very scary.

 

[wegotchickens]

I haven't been struck, but my dad was climbing into our camper when lightening struck the tree behind him. He didn't know he was standing on a tree root until he was THROWN into the camper by the force of the bolt. He shook until after the storm was over and gone, and was achy for days. Scared us all badly, and we've respect storms ever since. We never talk on the phone or take a shower when there's lightning around.
DH makes fun of me for these 'superstitions' but I ignore him.

 

[firechicken]

Heres a story I copied off the motorcycle forum. A guy known as flynrider (pilot&rider) wrote it.



I'll try and give you the short version. I was returning home to Phoenix after a 5,000 mile ride to Canada and the west coast. Thunderstorms chased me all the way into Phoenix, but I hit the freeway at rush hour, so they quickly caught up. It was pouring rain and I decided to get off the jammed freeway and try my luck on the surface streets. I took an exit, but traffic was backed up all the way to the freeway, so I ended up stopped on the ramp, in the pouring rain with water up to my ankles running down the ramp. While I was standing there, I noticed a blueish glow illuminating everthing and about 1 second later the lights went out. Fortunately, since the traffic was at a dead stop, I had my kickstand down, so I didn't even fall over.

About 15 seconds later my vision started to clear and I saw that everyone had gone back to pushing buttons on the radio and reading the paper. No one had noticed me slumped over my tank. About 12 ft. away, a wooden support on a metal guardrail was charred and smoking. Since I'd been temporarily blinded and deafened by the bolt, I didn't notice until later that I had 1st degree burns on both palms and the soles of my feet. This was the lightning's exit path. As best as I can tell, the main bolt hit the guardrail and I was hit by a splinter bolt that came off the main one.

Traffic started moving after about 5 min., so I just cranked up the bike to try and make it the last 5 miles home. As I was crossing a bridge a few miles later, a bolt of lightning hit a light pole in the center of the bridge, about 50 yards from me. At that point, I was pretty convinced that God was out to get me and hightailed it home as fast as I could. My hearing returned to normal after a couple of days.

I learned two things from this experience. 1. Don't sit on a motorcycle in a thunderstorm. You're protected by the surrounding metal in a cage, but on a bike, the first thing it'll hit is your head. 2. If struck by lightning, get to a hospital fast. I didn't do this. Although my arms and legs were feeling tingly for awhile, I didn't have any apparent injuries other than the light burns. My sister (the doctor) later informed me that lightning strikes can upset the electrolytic balance in your body, and you can keel over from heart failure up to 24 hrs. later.

 

[Poison Ivy]

I had two very close calls as a kid and I'm terrified of lighting now as a adult. I don't get near a window or go out side in a storm.

My husband had a close call 2 weeks ago riding home to ocala from miami on his motorcycle. He said it was storming pretty good and then the lighting started so he pulled over on the side of the road and he said a bolt come down next to him. So he jumped in the ditch and layed there for over a hour until it passed. He was soaking wet and said it scared him to death.