What is the chance that lightning will strike a person. Does lightning strike the same place twice? Mobile phone is dangerous in a thunderstorm

Cases of people being struck by lightning are very rare and are therefore always considered very unusual. The average American has a 1 in 5,000 chance of being struck by lightning. This is quite a comforting statistic, but not for those unfortunate people who were struck by lightning. These people not only won the most terrible lottery you can imagine, but they also ended up on our list precisely because this misfortune happened to them in a very unusual way.

From multiple lightning strikes to surviving only thanks to the player - all these cases will be extremely difficult for you to believe, but it all happened. Put on your rubber boots, get comfortable and pay attention!

25. Lightning healed a blind man

In 1980, a 62-year-old man from Falmouth, Maine survived a lightning strike. Our hero's name was Edwin Robinson. Not only is a lightning strike to a person a very rare occurrence, but this incident also led to the restoration of vision. A whole 9 years ago, Robinson was in a car accident, after which he became blind, but a lightning strike partially healed his eyes!

24. Lightning struck a man while fishing


Photo: Daniel Piraino / flickr

55-year-old James Church was fishing off the coast of Ponce Inlet, Florida when he was suddenly struck by lightning. The man was thrown about 180 centimeters straight into the metal railing. The strangest thing about the incident was that at the time of the lightning strike, it was barely drizzling. Emergency surgery lasted 9 hours and doctors were able to save Church, but he still lost 2 fingers and had to have part of his small and large intestine removed. In addition, the man had both of his eardrums burst.

23. Lightning struck a woman right in the mouth


Photo: Pixabay.com

Natasha Timarovic was brushing her teeth when she was suddenly struck by lightning. The discharge passed through the woman's entire body and exited through the anus, leaving behind very severe burns. Usually, when struck by lightning, the current comes out through the victim's legs, but our heroine was wearing shoes with rubber soles. That's why this time the lightning chose a different path...

22. Lightning flew straight into the girl’s room


Photo: PxHere.com

In 1986, Jennifer Mann was only 15 years old. She was sitting in her room reading Stephen King's The Shining when suddenly something terrible happened, and it happened far from the story. famous writer. A bolt of lightning struck the girl's room right through the wall, Jennifer's bed caught fire, but she herself was almost unharmed, except for the ringing in her ears and tingling in her jaw. Perhaps since then Jennifer has become much more careful in choosing books to read.

21. Lightning struck a girl on an ordinary sunny day


Photo: Pixabay.com

Most people believe that lightning only occurs during severe thunderstorms. However, in 2011, in Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania), things went far from the usual scenario, and an 11-year-old girl was struck by lightning on a clear sunny day. Probably, the discharge was formed due to a thunderstorm that raged somewhere a few kilometers from the poor thing. This phenomenon is observed extremely rarely, and it is precisely its unpredictability that poses the greatest danger.

20. A man survived a lightning strike and acquired an impressive mark on his body


Photo: Peter Terren

During a severe thunderstorm, 24-year-old Winston Kemp ran out into the field to save his pumpkins, and when the guy was already running back to the house, he saw a bright lightning appear from somewhere behind his neighbors' house. The sight amazed Kemp, but he didn’t even realize what hit him. A little later, the guy felt severe pain, and unpleasant blisters appeared on his hands. Winston felt so bad that he decided to take sick leave and did not go to work. It turns out that the unfortunate man was struck by the so-called earthen lightning, which at the same time left a large fractal scar on his body.

19. A man claims that lightning struck him as many as 11 times


Photo: Wes Iversen

Melvin Roberts, 62, says he has been struck by lightning 11 times in his life. The discharge struck him in sunny weather and when he was driving a bulldozer, and twice more lightning struck Roberts while he was mowing the grass on his lawn. Few people believe these stories, although the man even has medical records of his injuries, including typical burns that usually appear just after being struck by lightning.

18. Lightning scared a couple during sex


Photo: PxHere.com

One unusual case also occurred in West Germany. A couple was kissing in a car parked near the A44 motorway. In order to have complete privacy, the heated people decided to hide in the forest. Not paying attention to the fact that a thunderstorm was approaching, they went behind the trees to quickly indulge. Suddenly lightning struck right next to them. The frightened and naked lovers jumped out of the bushes, ran out to the road and shivered there, hiding behind the bushes, until they were discovered by a local policeman.

17. Lightning strike cured cancer


Photo: Murray Foubister

There may be little truth to this story, but it is still very unusual. In 1932, farmer Thomas Young, Tennessee, was living out his last days. He was dying of cancer. Lightning struck the man as he rested calmly in his hammock. The discharge passed through the entire body of the sick Young and exited through the sole of his shoe. They say that lightning severely disfigured his face, but cured his fatal illness.

16. Lightning Rolled Along the Rails


Photo: PxHere.com

An 1874 edition of the New York Times mentioned an incredible incident that happened in Baltimore. During a thunderstorm, lightning discharges struck the railway tracks, took the form of fireballs and moved along the rails.

15. One man was struck by lightning as many as 7 times

Photo: Lyoha123

Roy Sullivan was struck by lightning so many times that he was even given the nickname “The Spark Ranger.” At one time he was a ranger in Shenandoah National Park, but no one had ever personally seen Sullivan hit by a single lightning bolt. Surprisingly, this did not stop the forester from convincing the Guinness Book of Records commission to give him the title of the person who survived the most lightning strikes. From 1948 to 1977, according to Roy, he was hit by as many as 7 lightning strikes. Even more surprising is that the man died not from a lightning strike, but from a gunshot wound, and he fired the shot himself.

14. The girl was saved from death thanks to the iPod player


Photo: Pexels.com

During a thunderstorm, Sophie Frost and her boyfriend tried to hide from the rain under a tree. It was there that the girl was struck by lightning. Luckily, Sophie had her iPod with her. Doctors believe that the wire of this device absorbed almost all of the 300,000 volts of electrical discharge and saved the girl’s vital organs. Frost was left with burns almost all over her body from her chest to her legs, but was otherwise largely unharmed. By a happy coincidence, the girl received this player as a gift from her grandmother just 4 days before the accident.

13. A 13-year-old boy was struck by lightning at 13:13 on Friday the 13th.


Photo: WikipediaCommons.com

Many people have a superstitious fear of the number 13, and in this case the fear turned out to be completely justified. In 2010, another air show was held on the coast of the English town of Lowestoft. The event took place on Friday the 13th, and at exactly 13:13, one of the spectators, a 13-year-old boy, was struck by lightning. Fortunately, the teenager subsequently made a full recovery.

12. Lightning struck a diver's scuba gear


Photo: Soljaguar

Of all the dangers that await scuba divers during their dives, lightning is one of the most unlikely problems. Unfortunately for the 36-year-old diver, that's exactly what happened to him. The man was diving in the coastal waters of the town of Deerfield Beach (Deerfield Beach, USA), and when he surfaced to return to and go to shore, his oxygen tank was struck by lightning. The scuba diver's comrades brought the victim to shore, where he was given first aid, but it was not possible to save him.

11. Lightning killed an entire football team


Photo: PJ Dakota

In 1998, a terrible tragedy occurred during a football match in Kinshasa (the capital of Congo). A lightning bolt killed an entire team right on the field. In total, 11 athletes died in this incident, and 30 people received various injuries. The local population associated the incident with witchcraft.

10. Lightning flew straight into the bathroom


Photo: Nicole-Koehler

You probably always thought that during a thunderstorm, the shower room is certainly one of the safest places in the whole house. Unfortunately, this was not entirely true in the case of 12-year-old Alice Svensson from Sweden. A bolt of lightning struck her house and went through the pipes straight into the bathroom when the girl was just holding the metal hose from the shower. Alice's arm hurt for a while afterwards, but she was very lucky that nothing worse happened to her.

9. Lightning struck a meteorologist


Photo: WikipediaCommons.com

Meteorologists know almost everything about lightning, and the last thing they want is to run into lightning too close. Brad Sussman was simply walking up to a metal-framed window and touching it with his hand when he was suddenly thrown 5.5 meters into the house. As it turned out, lightning struck a hole in the roof above his porch and passed through the window frame.

8. Lightning hit a motorcyclist directly in the penis


Photo: Pixabay.com

29-year-old Ante Djindji from Croatia also knows first-hand about lightning strikes. During his motorcycle ride, the man decided to take a short break to go to the toilet. Then he found himself in a very unpleasant situation - lightning struck him right in the penis, and Anta was literally knocked out during the delicate process. Fortunately, in the end the Croatian escaped with only burns on his chest and arms.

7. Lightning affected the synesthete girl’s perception of the world


Photo: Valentina Gaia Lops

Synesthesia is a unique phenomenon in which some people associate certain colors with musical notes or see colorful lights around other people. Sometimes synesthetes associate the sound of words with certain tastes, and sounds with touch. In our case, the 20-year-old girl was also a synesthete, but after a lightning strike her feature took on a new and even more unusual form. For example, she began to see gold, silver and other colors that other people did not see.

6. Ball lightning hit the plane


Photo: U.S. Air Force

During a flight over Moscow, a passenger plane was struck by ball lightning - it burned through the hull of the aircraft and flew directly over the heads of the people on board. None of the passengers or crew were injured, although the aircraft's equipment was severely damaged, which forced the pilots to turn the plane around and make an emergency landing.

5. Ric Flair's Umbrella

Photo: Florida Supercon

Ric Flair is an established wrestling star, and he once talked about how he was struck by lightning. While leaving the plane, the athlete suddenly felt strong pressure. As it turned out, his umbrella was struck by lightning, which also tore it out of the traveler’s hands. Unfortunately, the bolt also hit a man standing just 1.5 meters behind Flair. Lightning struck him in the eye and killed the poor fellow on the spot. The wrestler admitted that at that moment he was simply petrified by the experience.

4. The defense lawyer was struck by lightning while he was relaxing on his boat.


Photo: publicdomainpictures.net

American lawyer N. Graves Thomas was a defense attorney who represented high-profile criminals, including cop killers, drug traffickers and high-profile individuals. One day, during a thunderstorm, he was just standing on the deck of his boat, raising his hands to the sky with the words “Here I am.” Almost immediately after this phrase, lightning struck Thomas. The lawyer did not survive.

3. James Otis Jr. Always Dreamed Of Being Striken By Lightning

Photo: WikipediaCommons.com

James Otis Jr. was famous for his active support of the American Revolution and the fight for independence from Great Britain. As you may have guessed, his life also had strange story associated with lightning. In one of his letters to his sister, the patriot once wrote something like this: “My dear sister, I hope that when the Lord Almighty, in His righteous providence, sends me from this time to eternity, it will be through a strike of lightning.” Incredibly, Otis Jr.’s wish came true - in 1783, a huge dark cloud appeared in the sky, and the American activist was struck to death by lightning.

2. In Rev. T.H. Feagin (T. H. Feagin) was struck by lightning right during the service


Photo: PxHere.com

In 1908, during a regular Sunday service, Baptist minister T.H. Feigin went down to the hall to greet his flock and shake hands with the parishioners. At the same time, a lightning strike struck the church building, killing the unfortunate dignitary on the spot.

1. A couple of teenagers were saved only because the guys held hands


Photo: Pexels.com

A couple of teenagers were going for hamburgers. The guys were holding hands when suddenly they felt a strong blow from behind. Dylan woke up about a meter away from his girlfriend Lexie. Apparently, the discharge hit the guy in the head, passed through the teenagers' hands and eventually came out through the girl's leg. According to the doctor, this is what saved them both.

Nature constantly amazes humanity with amazing phenomena and extraordinary creatures. But along with the sun and the rainbow, there are also a number of things that are dangerous and even fatal to humans. The consequences of a lightning strike can be very diverse, ranging from a small ornate scratch to death.

What is lightning

Lightning is a natural discharge of electricity that occurs in the lower layers of the earth's atmosphere. The first person to come to this theory was a scientist and famous politician. In 1752, Benjamin conducted an interesting experiment. To do this, he tied a paper kite to a rope, to which he attached a metal key. After starting a popular children's game during a thunderstorm, he got sparks from the key. It was from this time that lightning began to be actively studied as an amazing natural phenomenon, and also due to the fact that they quite seriously damaged houses and other buildings. According to the theory, electrical discharges originate between nearby electrified blocks or between one electrified cloud and the ground. As a result, what has accumulated is looking for a way out. A lightning strike occurs very quickly, as the discharge reaches the ground at crazy speed - in millionths of a second.

Multiple lightning

Among other things, there is multiple lightning. This is the same common phenomenon, according to experts, and even more frequent. Such lightning can have up to 40 discharges with barely noticeable intervals of a fraction of a second. The human eye is not able to see such a phenomenon, so numerous impacts can only be detected with the help of a photo recorder. When viewing time-lapse footage, there are noticeable breaks between discharges.

Lightning strikes a person

American scientists have conducted a number of studies, during which they obtained fairly clear data. In the United States, lightning strikes approximately 25 million times a year, mostly occurring during the summer months. They also found out that natural discharges rarely hit people, but, nevertheless, they pose a huge danger to humans. According to the latest data, over 12 months, more than 63 people die from lightning strikes, and about three hundred suffer, all due to the consequences of being struck by lightning. In most cases, all of these injuries could have been avoided with simple safety precautions.

What happens when a person is struck by lightning

There are cases in history where people survived an encounter with lightning, and for some it was remembered only by a few scars and stress.

In most situations, the resulting injuries turn out to be incompatible with life, or the person becomes disabled forever. The greatest danger is that a lightning strike leads to damage to internal organs, while the external integument of the body looks absolutely normal, without visible burns or wounds. The person believes that he escaped with fright and does not seek help from doctors in a timely manner. During this time, damaged organs in the body begin to become inflamed and bleed, which ultimately leads to internal bleeding and death.

The impact may cause:

• loss of vision;
• convulsions;
• paralysis;
• hearing loss;
• cardiac arrest.

The consequences of a lightning strike can be unpredictable and long-lasting. These include:

• Cataract (after a shock injury, this disease may appear several months later, so it is worth going to the doctor immediately after the injury to have your vision checked).
• Serious sleep disorder.
• Constant headache.
• Memory problems.
• Irritability and loss of quick thinking.
• Muscle cramps.
• Severe pain in the eyes.

These long-term effects of lightning may not appear immediately, but this does not reduce their danger.

How to avoid being struck by lightning

There is an opinion that if lightning strikes far away, there is nothing to be afraid of. Actually this is not true. In reality, it can strike 15 km from the place where it actually rains. Even if you only hear a thunderstorm but don't see any signs of lightning, you still run the risk of being electrocuted.

What to do to avoid being struck by lightning? First of all, make sure to always know the weather forecast and not go outside at dangerous times. Do not hide from thunderstorms and lightning under trees, and also avoid tall or isolated objects. It is also not recommended to be near water during such bad weather.

If you do find yourself in a thunderstorm, try to find shelter from it as soon as possible. The building must be equipped with grounded electrical wiring. If it happens that there are no houses nearby or at least a canopy under which you could hide, you can use a car for this purpose. But try not to touch its metal parts. If you are at home, it is best to turn off all electrical appliances, do not use the fireplace, TV, computer or other power tools, and do not talk on the phone. During bad weather, it is recommended to turn off your cell phone. Before going outside after a thunderstorm, it is recommended to wait at least 30 minutes after the last lightning flash. Statistics show that the consequences of a lightning strike are caused by failure to comply with basic precautions.

Can a person survive a lightning strike?

It is not for nothing that people have been afraid of lightning for centuries, because in most cases a person dies. Despite these statistics, there are cases where some people still managed to survive a strong blow. This happens when a lightning strike passes through the entire body without hitting vital organs. And also among the lucky ones were those people who have an individual increased body resistance. A current discharge entering a person refers to emergency situations. And the consequences of a lightning strike are more than serious. It is as a result of such natural disasters that a huge number of deaths are recorded. If we compare lightning with everyday lightning, it turns out that a celestial discharge is several times stronger than usual, but the consequences are almost the same.

How to protect yourself from a direct lightning strike on water

Everyone knows perfectly well that water is an ideal conductor for electricity. When lightning strikes a body of water, it is about a hundred meters around the point of impact. That is why it is not recommended to swim during lightning, or to relax near water. If you stay away from potentially dangerous places, you will never know what the consequences of a lightning strike on a person are. But if you are fishing at this moment or you do not have the opportunity to get out of the water, then there is a chance to survive. The fact is that when it comes into contact with lightning, it repels it. However, it is necessary to leave the water as quickly as possible.

Trees

Hiding under trees is usually prohibited. This is understandable, because lightning always strikes at the highest point, but in fact, you can hide under them and still not know what the consequences of a lightning strike are, you just have to follow some rules. As a rule, lightning strikes coniferous trees such as pine and spruce. Also, poplars and oaks most often become victims of this element. Based on this, we come to the conclusion that it is quite possible to hide from lightning under a low tree that is not a conifer. If you are in a forest, there is a possibility that even if lightning does not strike the exact tree you are under, it may strike the plant that is next to you. Since the impact is quite strong, branches and pieces of wood fly apart at great speed. One of these fragments could easily fly off into a person. Such consequences after a lightning strike are much less common, but they still happen.

Also, under no circumstances should you run. Despite the fact that this is a completely understandable human reaction to any danger, in this case it can play a cruel joke. According to research, moving targets are most often struck by lightning. Therefore, if you are riding a bicycle, just jogging, or trying to escape from a thunderstorm, it is better to stop and wait out the bad weather in a calm place. This way you will increase your chances of survival. You should also not use a cell phone, as discharges from it can attract the elements. Do not stand near power lines; as you know, any electricity attracts lightning. Also, you should not light a fire, since heated air has a high discharge conductivity. Metal is also an optimal conductor, so during a thunderstorm it is better to remove any metal objects that are on you. This could be watches, chains, rings, etc.

First aid

The locations of lightning strikes and the consequences of a direct strike can be very diverse, so you need to act as quickly as possible. If a person is struck by lightning and loses consciousness, the first thing to do is check for a pulse. Do not be afraid to touch the victim, since there is no longer any charge in his body. If you do not detect a pulse, you must urgently pull the tongue out of his mouth so that the person does not accidentally choke or suffocate. Next, you need to clean the oral cavity and perform mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration. Of course, first of all, you must immediately call an ambulance or take the victim to the hospital yourself. Every second can count. If he has a pulse and no visible injuries, he still needs to be taken to the hospital. As mentioned earlier, despite the fact that outwardly everything is in order, the internal organs of the victim may be damaged, and only after an examination by a doctor it will be possible to say exactly what the real damage is and other consequences of lightning exposure on a person.

Some interesting facts

Of course, if lightning strikes the head, then the person’s chance of survival is zero. In this case, the eyeballs literally explode and the victim dies instantly. In some famous cases, people fell into a coma and never came out of it. If lightning strikes other parts of the body, it generally leaves an ornate, intricate pattern on the victim’s body, which itself resembles lightning or a tree. In ancient times, such people were considered marked by God, and the dead were buried with honor.

In conclusion

Today it is difficult to say why lightning strikes only one person surrounded by thousands of other people. Scientists have not yet been able to identify a general algorithm or people who are predisposed to such attacks. The only thing that can be said with some certainty is that there are more and more victims of lightning every year. Therefore, it is important to adhere to certain

The impact of lightning on everything on earth occurs often enough that a person does not forget about the serious consequences that arise here and there. Rolls of thunder and flashes of lightning are an extremely serious warning to people who are in unprotected places. This is due, first of all, to the danger of the direct impact of lightning on the human body.

The most dangerous thing is to be in an open space during a thunderstorm, near a lonely tree, in close proximity to a body of water.

The safest place is a place equipped in accordance with all lightning protection rules. Caution should be observed in all cases when we are dealing with such a natural phenomenon as a thunderstorm.

Is it possible to survive after being struck by lightning?

Each year, several hundred people are killed by lightning. But if you take into account the total number of annual thunderstorms, this figure seems insignificant. However, not all countries have objective statistics that directly show the real consequences after a lightning strike on a person. It should be noted that the main damage to health can be shifted in time and fatal consequences will manifest themselves later in the form of serious illnesses. Often, survivors do not subsequently associate their illnesses with exposure to lightning. As a rule, in such cases, the necessary information is usually provided by people who have survived a lightning strike and are under the supervision of a doctor.

Lightning damage can lead to paralysis of the nervous system, blockage of vital organs, respiratory arrest and, as a result, death. And this is not surprising! After all, the discharge force reaches several hundred thousand amperes, and all this power passes through the human body in an instant, randomly affecting his organs. Depending on the incredible force of the blow and its direction, any scenario is possible - from fatal to simple shock, without any serious consequences, which is extremely rare.

What is the chance of surviving a lightning strike? This rhetorical question, to which there is no exact answer, cannot be ignored, since the magnitude of the electrical discharge is unpredictable and varies over a wide range (the current strength in a lightning discharge on Earth reaches 10-500 thousand amperes). In the overwhelming majority of cases, irreversible changes occur in the human body that are incompatible with life and, usually, complete cardiac arrest occurs. It has been noted that when lightning strikes a young couple under a tree, the guy often suffers much more than the girl.

Why do marks remain on the body after a lightning strike?

A lightning discharge, passing through the body, leaves one burn mark at the entrance and two at the exit if it passes through both legs, between which an electric arc arises, aggravating the force of the impact. In these places, scars may remain after a lightning strike - photos and videos of which are available on the Internet. Therefore, it is recommended to stand during a thunderstorm on one leg, tucking the other. Powerful lightning discharges are accompanied by great heating of the surrounding air, causing a burn to the body, causing numerous ruptures of blood vessels, as a result of which the skin acquires a bizarre pattern. It can remain for life.

A characteristic burn in the form of a Lichtenberg figure - scars after a lightning strike - often appears on the body and hands of victims. This pattern marks the body, as if indicating that you have been exposed to deadly, powerful natural energy. Some severe burn marks may occur due to clothing igniting in the high temperature area.

Lightning strike survivors

If a person is struck by lightning, the consequences, as a rule, are disappointing and may not appear immediately. The head and chest suffer the most. The human body is capable of reacting to this direct impact in the most serious way. For example, problems with memory and speech, and hearing loss may appear, since connections in some area of ​​the brain will be severed, which leads to human degradation. Often the eyes are damaged after a lightning strike, which leads to partial or complete loss of vision. Over time, cataracts may form, retinal detachment may occur, and the optic nerve may atrophy.

Of course, such amazing cases also happen, such as with Vanga, when, as a result of exposure to lightning, she acquired the gift of foresight at the cost of complete loss of vision. There are various cases of extraordinary “rebirth” of the victim without any negative consequences. The patient's chronic disease disappears, the bald man begins to grow hair on his head, the toothless man begins to erupt teeth, many extraordinary abilities that were previously absent appear, but such a chance occurs extremely rarely, and this is rather an exception to the rule. Dosed electric current is well used in treatment, but uncontrolled lightning current is extremely dangerous to life, so we must stop talking about the benefits of the consequences of a lightning strike on a person.

What does a person look like after being struck by lightning?

The survivor looks absolutely helpless, since damage to the musculoskeletal system is possible, including numerous fractures, including the spine. The victim receives a shock, difficulty breathing, up to temporary respiratory arrest. When a person is struck by lightning, the central nervous system is inevitably injured and general paralysis occurs. There is a myth, somewhat supported by the press, that the victim should be buried in the ground after a lightning strike to release the charges from the body. This is not true because human body does not accumulate electrical charges and burying it in the ground has no practical benefit. That is why you need to waste no time, start providing first aid to the victim and urgently call a doctor.

Unbiased statistics show us the severe consequences of a lightning strike on a person, therefore, according to common sense, it would be reasonable to adhere to safety rules for yourself and not worry about your loved ones: always be in places professionally equipped with lightning protection systems during a thunderstorm.

It is very important that a person who finds himself in an unprotected area, after direct or indirect exposure to a lightning strike, receives the necessary urgent assistance.

Illustration copyright Getty Images

Out of 10 people struck by lightning, nine survive. How does the human body feel when it is struck by lightning? Let's find out this first hand.

Sometimes they keep those clothes. Scraps or burnt shreds that for some reason the doctors and nurses did not throw away when they brought the victim of an unexpected blow from heaven to life.

They return to this story again and again - they retell what happened to them many times within the family circle or on social networks, they share photographs and articles about other lightning survivors like them.

Or about the real tragedies that such a hit led to.

Here is a video from Brazil of how lightning strikes a tourist on the ocean shore. An electrical discharge from the sky kills a Texan who was out for a morning jog. Here's the news from Bangladesh, where four days of continuous thunderstorms killed 65 people.

The picture of what happened to them is being reconstructed piece by piece, gradually: from the stories of witnesses, pieces of burnt clothing and burns on the skin - everything that was left behind by a 200,000,000-volt atmospheric discharge that fell from the sky at a speed of a third of the speed Sveta.

I saw it smoking - that's when I got scared

This is how members of Jaime Santana's family reconstructed what happened that Saturday in April 2016. To all of the above we must add a straw hat, torn to shreds.

“He looked like a cannonball had gone through him,” recalls Sydney Weil, a trauma surgeon in Phoenix, Arizona, to whom Jaime was brought by ambulance that day.

While Santana was being transported to the hospital, paramedics had to use a defibrillator several times to stop Jaime's heart from stopping.

Jaime Santana was horseback riding in the mountains with his brother-in-law and two other friends. They often did this on weekends.

Suddenly they came dark clouds, and the riders got ready to go home. Lightning was already flashing in the sky against the backdrop of the mountain peaks, but the rain had not started.

They were already almost near the house when this happened, says Alejandro Torres, Jaime’s brother-in-law.

Illustration copyright William LeGoulon

Alejandro believes that he was unconscious for only a short time. When he came to, he found himself lying face down on the ground. My whole body hurt terribly. His horse disappeared somewhere.

The other two riders were visibly shaken, but unharmed. Alejandro looked around and saw Jaime next to the horse lying on the ground.

As he approached, he accidentally touched the legs of this horse - they were hardened, he recalls, as if they were made of metal.

He walked closer to Chaima: “I saw him smoking - that’s when I got scared.”

He saw flames on Jaime's chest. Three times Alejandro fought off the flames with his bare hands. And three times the fire lit up again.

Strange, but only later, when a neighbor had already come running to help and an ambulance had arrived, it dawned on them: Chaim had been struck by lightning.

White flash

Justin Godger wishes his memories weren't so vivid and vivid.

Then, perhaps, he would not have suffered for so long from post-traumatic syndrome and constant anxiety.

Lightning struck him while he was fishing for trout in a lake near Flagstaff, all in Arizona.

Even now, three years later, when lightning begins to flash in the sky, he feels most comfortable locked in the bathroom and watching with his help. mobile application for when the storm will finally go away.

An avid fisherman, Justin was initially happy when it started to rain that August day. The fish bite better in this weather, he told his wife Rachel.

The storm began suddenly - as, in fact, happens here at this time in the summer. The rain fell more and more heavily and finally turned into hail.

The wife and daughter took refuge in the car, and soon Justin's son joined them.

The hailstones were getting bigger, some were almost the size of golf balls, and when they hit Justin, it really hurt him.

In the end, he gave up. Covering himself with a folding chair with a fabric seat, he headed to the car. This chair, burnt on one side, is still kept by the Godgers.

The pain was so... I just can't describe it

Meanwhile, Rachel was filming video from the front seat of the car, hoping to catch the moment when her husband came running to escape the hail.

In the video that Rachel recorded on her smartphone, at first everything on the screen is white, and hailstones are hitting the windshield. Then - a bright flash. Rachel believes that this was the lightning that hit her husband.

Thunder strike. A gut-wrenching pain.

“My body was completely paralyzed - I just couldn’t move,” Justin recalls. “The pain was so... I just can’t describe it. Well, except this: remember how you were accidentally electrocuted once in childhood - so, multiply that feeling by a billion and imagine that pain throughout your body."

"I saw a blinding white light surrounding my body - as if I was in a bubble. Everything around me slowed down. It seemed to me that I would now remain in this bubble forever."

Another man and woman, who were hiding from the weather under a tree, came running to help. They then told Justin that he continued to clutch the chair in his hands and his whole body was smoking.

When Justin regained consciousness, his ears were ringing. Then it dawned on him that he was paralyzed from the waist down.

Diagonal burns

Now, describing what happened that day, Justin shows how the burns are located on his back.

The lightning mark starts at the right shoulder and runs diagonally down, he says, before extending to the outside of both legs.

He brings to show the shoes he was wearing then. They also have burns. In some places they burned through.

Illustration copyright William LeGoullon

Justin believes lightning struck him in the shoulder, passed through his body and exited through his legs.

Although survivors often point out where lightning entered and exited, it is difficult to say exactly which route it took to strike a person, says Mary Ann Cooper, a Chicago physician who has long studied lightning and is now retired.

Every year, lightning claims more than 4 thousand lives around the world - this follows from statistics from 26 countries. (The real death toll from lightning strikes remains to be seen once we start getting reliable statistics from developing countries - particularly Central African ones.)

Every year, lightning claims more than 4,000 lives worldwide - yet many cases in developing countries simply go undocumented

Cooper is one of a relatively small number of specialists (doctors, meteorologists, electrical engineers, etc.) who are trying to better understand how lightning strikes people and how to avoid it.

Of every 10 people struck by lightning, nine survive to tell their story. However, these cases do not pass without consequences for them - both short-term and long-term.

The list of these consequences is long and frightening: cardiac arrest, brain fog, fits and seizures, dizziness, muscle pain, deafness, headaches, memory loss, loss of attention, changes in character, chronic pain...

They share their stories online and on annual conferences Lightning Strike & Electric Shock Survivors International.

These people gather in the mountains of the southeastern United States every spring. Their meetings began in the early 1990s, when 13 people attended the first conference of lightning strike survivors.

In the days before the Internet, it was quite difficult to find people like you, those who, after a lightning strike, alone try to cope with headaches, memory loss, and insomnia, says Steve Marshburn, the society's founder.

Steve has been living with all these symptoms since 1969, when he was struck by lightning while standing outside a bank building.

Illustration copyright Lena Lozhkina/Flickr/CC BY 2.0-ND Image caption

He and his wife have been involved in this organization on a voluntary basis for almost 30 years, which already has almost 2 thousand members.

The changes in character and mood swings that survivors experience (sometimes with bouts of deep depression) sometimes bring families to the brink of collapse.

Mary Ann Cooper gives her favorite analogy: lightning, she says, affects the human brain in much the same way as a short circuit affects your computer. Outwardly, nothing seems to have changed, but software can no longer function as before.

Both Marshburn and Cooper praise Lightning Strike & Electric Shock Survivors International, which Marshburn says has prevented at least 22 suicides.

Lightning affects the human brain in much the same way as a short circuit affects your computer Mary Ann Cooper, researcher

It's not unusual for Marshburn to get a call in the middle of the night and spend several hours talking to someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown. After such conversations, Marshburn feels empty.

Cooper, who has attended several meetings of these people, admits that she still does not fully understand what is happening to them. "But I listen and listen and listen to them."

Although she sympathizes with the victims, some things in their stories make her distrustful.

Sometimes they claim that they feel the approach of a thunderstorm long before it starts. "It's possible," Cooper admits, "their trauma has given them increased sensitivity to the elements."

However, she is more critical of stories of computers freezing when someone who was once struck by lightning enters the room. Or that these people’s gadget batteries run out faster.

After decades of study and observation, Cooper and other lightning experts readily admit that there are still more questions than answers.

For example, it is not clear why some people suffer seizures after being struck by lightning. And does suffering a stroke affect the health problems that arise with age?

Some of these people say they feel like medical nomads because they can't find a doctor who understands anything about lightning injuries.

Justin Godger, whose legs regained mobility within five hours of being struck by lightning, now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Also, his brain doesn't work as fast as it used to.

Illustration copyright iStock Image caption

He doesn't understand how he can return to the job he did before what happened to him (Justin worked as a lawyer).

“When I talk on the phone, the words seem to be jumbled in my head,” he says. “I start to think about what exactly I want to say, and everything gets completely confused. And when I finally say something, it’s not exactly what I wanted to say."

Arcing effect

When someone is struck by lightning, it happens so quickly that only a very small amount of electricity passes through the body. Most of it remains outside, creating what's called an arcing effect, Cooper explains.

In comparison, contact with a high-voltage wire results in much more serious internal injuries, since the exposure to electricity can be longer, even if it is just a few seconds - this is enough to cause severe damage to your organs.

Why do external burns happen? Cooper explains that they can be caused by lightning coming into contact with sweat on the skin or raindrops.

Water expands in volume when it turns into steam, and even a small volume can cause what is called a steam explosion.

“Clothes are literally blown off by this explosion,” Cooper says. Sometimes shoes too.

Boots, however, are more likely to be torn or damaged from the inside because that's where the heat accumulates.

As for clothing, steam will interact with it differently depending on what it is made of. For example, a leather jacket can trap steam inside, which will lead to skin burns.

The cell phone that Jaime Santana had in his pocket melted and stuck to his pants.

How did Jaime survive? After all, his horse died.

One possible explanation, according to trauma surgeon Sidney Weil, is that it was the horse that took the brunt of the lightning strike that nearly killed its 31-year-old rider.

Illustration copyright iStock Image caption

Or perhaps artificial respiration, which a neighbor who ran up on time immediately began to give Jaime, helped. He continued to do it until the paramedics arrived.

What is the probability of a hit?

Conventional wisdom is that the chance of being struck by lightning is one in a million. But this is only partly true.

If you look at data for the United States for one year, everything seems to be correct. But these statistics are misleading, says Ron Hall, an American meteorologist who has long studied lightning.

He encourages us to look at other numbers as well. If someone lives to age 80, their lifetime vulnerability increases to 1 in 13,000.

Consider also that every lightning victim has relatives and friends who are affected by this tragedy in one way or another - thus the chance of being among those affected by a lightning strike increases even more - almost to 1 in 1300.

Hall doesn't like the word "strike" at all - in his opinion, this suggests that the lightning strikes directly into the human body. In fact, such direct hits are extremely rare.

If someone lives to age 80, their lifetime vulnerability increases to 1 in 13,000

Hall, Cooper, and several other prominent lightning researchers have recently jointly estimated that direct hits account for no more than 3-5% of electrical injuries.

(However, Sidney Vale suggests that Jaime Santana was struck by a direct lightning strike, given that he was galloping through a desert area where there were not a single tree or other tall object around.)

Justin Godger believes he was hit by lightning that hit him tangentially, reflected from some other object - a tree or a telephone pole.

Reflected lightning is thought to be responsible for 20-30% of injuries or deaths from electrical shock.

Illustration copyright William LeGoulon Image caption

Typically, in regions of the world with high income In the population, men are much more likely to die from a lightning strike than women: two thirds of cases of lightning striking a person involve a man as a victim.

This could be explained by the fact that men are more willing to take risks, and their work is more likely to involve the possibility of being struck by lightning, Hall notes.

Arizona Peacocks

...When Jaime was brought to the Phoenix trauma center, his heart was beating irregularly, he had a cerebral hemorrhage, damage to his lungs and other internal organs, including his liver, says Dr. Weil.

Second- and third-degree burns covered nearly one-fifth of his body. To allow his body to recover, doctors placed Santana in an induced coma for almost two weeks.

After five months of treatment and rehabilitation, Jaime returned home. “The hardest thing for me is that I can’t walk,” he admits.

"The doctors say some of Jaime's nerves still haven't woken up," says Sarah, Jaime's sister. The family hopes that time and rehabilitation procedures will correct this.

The day Sarah and Alejandro returned home from the hospital where they had left Jaime struck by lightning, Alejandro went out into the backyard to call his wife. And suddenly he saw a peacock sitting on the fence of the horse pen - a real peacock, with a multi-colored tail.

Previously, Sarah and Alejandro had only seen peacocks in Arizona at the zoo.

They kept that peacock and a little later found a mate for it. Now they have a whole family of peacocks.

When Sarah decided to see what this symbolized beautiful bird, she was amazed: renewal, resurrection, immortality.

This article in English originally appeared on Mosaic and is published here under a Creative Commons license.

Modern regulatory documentation does not stipulate strict requirements for installing lightning protection in private homes. The owner decides whether or not to install lightning protection for a private home. In order to assess the need to install lightning protection, let's look at the question of what lightning is, what danger it poses and what is the likelihood of a lightning strike in a house, as well as the possibility of causing harm due to secondary manifestations of lightning?

Lightning is dangerous!

Lightning is fascinating natural phenomenon, which carries enormous destructive power. Lightning discharges carry currents up to 200 kA, and the temperature in the lightning channel reaches 3000 °C. The consequence of lightning striking a building is serious damage and a high risk of fire. All this leads to serious financial losses, as well as human casualties. In addition, the powerful electromagnetic field of lightning current leads to malfunctions and failure of electrical equipment.

Let's look at the consequences of a direct lightning strike on an unprotected house

And these are the results of secondary manifestations of lightning - impulse overvoltages

We have dealt with the danger of lightning and the undesirability of various buildings appearing in its path.
The main question is: what is the probability of lightning hitting a house?

To answer this question, you need to turn to the lightning activity map and carry out a series of calculations.

For clarity, let's carry out the calculation using a real example. Let's calculate the probability of lightning hitting a country house measuring 14x12 and 10 meters high located in Leningrad region.

Based on the lightning activity map, the average annual number of lightning strikes per square meter is determined. km per year. For the Leningrad region, this figure is 3.5 shocks per sq. km.

Where:
A - building length, m
B - building width, m
H - building height, m
n - average annual number of lightning strikes per 1 km2 of the earth’s surface, 1/(km2*year)

Afterwards, we calculate the period of a direct lightning strike to the house:

For our house, the period of a lightning strike will be 1 strike in 62 years.

At first glance, the figure seems very distant. But it is worth considering that lightning will not strike exactly in the 62nd year of the house’s existence. This calculation shows that for a house of this size there is a very high probability that there will be at least 1 lightning strike in 62 years.
It is also worth considering the annual increase in thunderstorms. If, for example, after 10 years the number of lightning strikes into the ground increases to 5, then the period of lightning striking our house will be 43 years.
These figures are an order of magnitude less than the period of operation of a country house. Those. Lightning is a very real threat to every country house built.

Send us the dimensions of your house and its location, we will calculate the lightning strike period for free.

We considered the likelihood of a direct lightning strike. In addition to this danger, there is also a high probability of an impulse being carried into our home. A surge surge can occur as a result of a ground strike near the house, a lightning strike to a neighbor's house, or a lightning strike to a power line.

It's up to you to decide whether to do lightning protection or not. But is it worth tempting fate?