Incredible story of man who survived being struck by lightning SEVEN times. The thought of being struck by lightning won't appeal to many people, but unfortunately for Roy C. Sullivan (USA), it happened to him a whopping seven times.
In the United States, the lifetime odds of being struck by lightning are only 1 in 15,300. In any given year, those odds increase to about 1 in 1.2 million. Interestingly enough, most people survive. If you are struck by lightning the chance of it being fatal is only 1 in 10, a 90% survival rate.
The heat produced when lightning moves over the skin can produce burns, but the current moving through the body is of greatest concern. While the ability to survive any lightning strike is related to immediate medical attention, the amount of current moving through the body is also a factor.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the odds of being struck by lightning are less than one in a million, and 90% of lightning strike victims survive.
Well, spare a thought for the former American park ranger Roy C. Sullivan, who holds the record for The Most Lightning Strikes Survived. Born in Greene County in 1912, Roy worked as park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in his native Virginia. He was hit by lightning an amazing seven times - and survived every time!
It felt like a horse hit you in the back of the head, like a mule kick,” he said. “It was almost like getting the wind knocked out of you by a Mack truck.” Immediately afterward, Fasciglione said he felt energized, his entire body tight, ears ringing and then went numb. He suffered no major injuries.
But the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are less than one in a million, and almost 90% of all lightning strike victims survive. The odds of being struck multiple times is even less, with the record being seven times in one lifetime.
What are the chances of getting struck by lightning? So in pure statistics, the odds of any particular person getting struck by lightning are relatively low – around 100 people in Australia are injured by lightning each year, making your odds about 4 in a million.
The overwhelming majority of consequences of being struck by lightning are painful and debilitating, and could stay with you for the rest of your life.
In fact, lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5 times hotter than the surface of the sun).
Is it safe to touch somebody who was struck by lightning? Yes. Lightning victims DO NOT carry an electrical charge and you will NOT be electrocuted by touching someone who has been struck. It is safe to touch a lightning victim and administer first aid immediately.
According to a doctor, the injuries could have been much worse had it not been for the fact that they were walking hand in hand. “These two were lucky they that they were holding hands. It helped to diffuse the electrical current that ran through their bodies,” Dr. Stefan Reynoso told CNN affiliate KCAL.
Your body cuts off most of the current
That means that lightning hits your body in a different way from when you, say, stick your finger in an electrical socket. Most of the current from a lightning strike actually passes over your skin in a phenomenon called "flashover," said Cooper.
WHAT WE FOUND. Greg Schoor with the National Weather Service says in some instances lightning can strike even 60 miles away from the storm, and if it hits just 100 feet away, you can still feel the effects from it.
The electric current has to pass through your body to do you any harm, and the conducting sea water will carry a good deal of the current around your body. You are at much greater risk if you are protruding above the water in a boat or on a windsurf board, as I once was during a lightning storm in Australia.
Some burns can look like Lichtenberg figures, or lines. Lichtenberg lines are long, intricate, wavy burns that can appear on someone temporarily after receiving a massive electric shock. "They don't really stick around. They're these fernlike, superficial burns of the skin," said Claypool.
Myth: If you are in a house, you are 100% safe from lightning. Fact: A house is a safe place to be during a thunderstorm as long as you avoid anything that conducts electricity. This means staying off corded phones, electrical appliances, wires, TV cables, computers, plumbing, metal doors and windows.
Common injuries caused by lightning include: muscle pains, broken bones, cardiac arrest, confusion, hearing loss, seizures, burns, behavioral changes, and ocular cataracts. Loss of consciousness is very common immediately after a strike.
In a year, Weatherzone estimates Darwin experiences 54 lightning pulses per square kilometre — making it the most lightning-prone capital city in Australia.
There are between five and ten deaths from lightning strikes in Australia each year, and over 100 injuries. About 80 of these injuries result from the use of landline telephones during thunderstorms.
Like in our buildings, these lightning conductors are connected to insulated cables that go down to the ground to ensure the dispersion of electricity. When lightning strikes occur elsewhere than on the lightning conductors of the summit, they can also reach the top antenna or lattice girders of the structure.
It's not because lightning prefers to strike men, but because men tend to engage in activities that put them at greater risk. For example, outdoor work being male dominated is a major factor. Lifestyle and behavioral differences between men and women also play roles.
According to National Geographic, about 2,000 people are killed annually worldwide by lightning. If all eight billion humans have an equal chance of being killed over a 70-year lifespan, this gives a lifetime probability of about 1 in 60,000.