Girl, 9, Struck by Lightning Survives Without a Scratch

[Isis]

(06-06-2010 08:26 PM)Lady Kamae Wrote:  I am an idiot and I know it. I love lightning storms and purposefully go out in the rain to watch them. I think the height of my moronic moves was when a nasty storm rolled in several years ago and we were out fishing, in a little metal boat, in a large body of water holding a graphite rod and I refused to come in because not only was the sky amazing...but the fish were biting like crazy!

I'm very glad the little girl is ok. As far as her hair turning white, my youngest daughter experienced a trauma when she was 3 and her hair turned white in a big clump by her right ear. It took years, but eventually it did return to brown.

OMG, LK were you tempting fate? There was summer camp for kids here that got into really big trouble about 2 years ago. It was a Christian camp the kids put up their tents and nobody who worked there told 2 girls that you don't put a tent under a tree. During the night they had a storm and the lighting hit the tree and fell on the tent. The girl was in a serious state for days before she passed away. They couldn't understand why no one told the kids to go inside......that place is closed now.

[Andrasta]

LK, when a thunderstorm wakes you in the middle of the night with a bolt of lightning that "sounded like it hit somewhere behind where you live" and you find out minutes later that it hit your neighbour's house and set it on fire, you might think differently.

[UglyNRude]

I too have been sitting on a large reservoir fishing and cathing them when a large storm blew in. I was happy sitting out there but my fishing partner was freaking out and it was his boat so we had to leave.

I also have sat in my tree with my metal bow and aluminum arrows during numerous storms and never been struck.

Top states for peple hit
1. Florida
1523 Deaths and Injuries.

2. Michigan
732 Deaths and Injuries.

3. Pennsylvania
644 Deaths and Injuries.

4. North Carolina
629 Deaths and Injuries.

5. New York
577 Deaths and Injuries.

6. Ohio
545 Deaths and Injuries.

7. Texas
498 Deaths and Injuries.

8. Tennessee
473 Deaths and Injuries.

9. Georgia
410 Deaths and Injuries.

10. Colorado
394 Deaths and Injuries.

Now an interesting fact is the top ten doesn'tmean its the top in lightning deaths.
If you look at deaqths based on population.
Lightning Deaths in the US per Million People
1. New Mexico 1.88
2. Wyoming 1.47
3. Arkansas 1.46
4. Florida 1.10
5. Mississippi 1.04
6. Colorado 1.04
7. Oklahoma 0.88
8. North Carolina 0.84
9. Louisiana 0.83
10. South Dakota 0.81

[Haunted Lady]

If it be the Creators will to take me from this Earth by bolt of lightning, I am thinking He will find me regardless of where I am or what I am doing at the time.

Until then, bring on the catfish.

[1TxLady]

I am truly glad the girl is unharmed.

As for me, I love storms and always have. It's almost mesmerizing. I've never been fishing in an aluminum boat during a storm but I have been on the lake in a boat and I've been caught on the back 9 of a golf course in horrific lightening. Talk about a magnet with a bag full of clubs! I did though move away from the cart and take off my golf shoes (metal cleat days)...just a little common sense.

[jadewik]

I have two comments directed towards survival of being struck by lightning.

Firstly, it's the amperage, not the voltage that kills a person. The higher the amps, the higher your change [I think you meant chance, here, Jadewik, just sayin'...] to die. The myth is it's the voltage that determines fatality... but then why do they sell tasers with such a high voltage? Voltage still stings and has the potential to kill...

Secondly, a charge will only potentially kill if that charge crosses your heart-- as in it travels from one side of your body to the other side. So if you are struck by lightning in the left shoulder and it goes out the right foot, you would die. If the lightning goes into your left shoulder and out your left foot, you would probably survive provided the amperage of the bolt didn't exceed 2-3 amps.

The trouble is that you can't really direct how electricity will enter and exit your body...

---

Thx for the edit! That's what I meant... so tie-red today... >_<

[geogirlforever]

I am also glad that the little girl was unharmed.

As for me, yes, i've been close enough. I was in my early twenties, so 21/22ish when this happened.

I was out with my boyfriend and we were heading back into town, when all of a sudden a bad storm started rolling in, fast. Really high damaging winds, and a thunderstorm. He knew something was up, so we ended up parking in one of the factories shipping and receiving bay and waited until everything cooled down. When we thought things were clear he reversed out when it happened a lightning bolt hit the ground just behind us, it shock the ground it was so bright i had to close my eyes. We were so freaked out, that instead of catching up to friends that were waiting for us we went back to my parents house... shaking of course.