they say lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place....

[RedValk]

but of course, that's been "debunked" long ago.

 

Now then, not only did our house get hit TWICE on Saturday....doing some damage of course....but....AND THIS IS A FIRST FOR ME (and i hope....a LAST)....I GOT HIT.

 

The first strike hit my ham radio tower. That blew up our Direct TV, blew some light bulbs out....etc.

 

So, after that strike....in the middle of a FIERCE lightning storm...i noticed Sherry had left the garage door open...and it was blowing and raining hard...blowing rain INTO the garage. the bikes were getting wet (on their rear fenders...i keep all four parked in parallel pulled in forward)...and some things she just picked up shopping and had laid in the garage were getting wet. My intention was to CLOSE the garage door, and move the items that she placed on the floor off of the wet garage floor.

 

That NEVER happened. As i walked up to the open garage door....just before i hit the door closing button...my hair stood on end for a split second....and before i knew what happened....there was a BRIGHT flash of light...a LOUD crack...and suddenly a very hot sensation all over my lower body. I wasn't even sure what had happened at first!

 

I RAN into the house....yelling various obcenities...and tried to get my bearings. I sat at the kitchen table.....with a heck of a headache. For the next hour...i had some involuntary muscle spasms in different muscles. And the headache went on for several hours...then went away ...then came back....etc...until later that evening. (this happend just after 2 PM).

 

Besides my "little exciting episode"...we had gates in the pasture "welded shut"....phone line messed up (coming to fix Thursday), the Direct TV problem (coming to fix Thursday)...light bulbs blown....power circuit breakers tripped.

 

Again, the first strike hit the ham tower (on one side of the house). The second strike hit ....somewhere on or around the garage (on the opposite side of the house). i think i just got some of the discharge thru the ground on the wet garage floor?

 

i won't be walking in front of an open garage door again...anytime soon...in a heavy lightining storm!

[tpme06]

crazy... quite a unique experience so to say... glad to hear you're all right.

[hubcapsc]

Wow... glad you're OK...

we had gates in the pasture "welded shut"

When our tree with the hammock got hit, it killed the tree and welded the
links of the hammock chain together...

-Mike

[ChromeDome]

Glad to hear you are OK. Next time, if you must go out during a lightning storm, wear those heavy rubber boots you use to muck out the barn.

[Oss]

glad you are ok

Ive been within 50 feet of lightning once and about 300 feet once

So dont be insulted if I dont sit next to you during a lightning storm

[John Schmidt]

The old Orlando Navy Base used to have some of those metal quonset buildings. Years ago, during a summer storm I was working in one and was headed to the parking lot but stopped to get a drink from the fountain. About 40' away a bolt hit the blacktop just outside the door...right where I would have been walking to the car. Strange that it didn't hit the metal bldg., but the shock slammed me in the mouth as I was getting a drink. Felt like one of Ali's right hooks, threw me across the hallway and up against a filing cabinet sitting there. I'm with Tim on this one....talk about a headache, and my lip felt like it does after a shot of Novocain at the dentist. Someone heard the bang and apparently I had let out a yell, they helped me to a big chair and I sat for about an hour before they'd let me leave. My jaw muscles hurt for days and my lower lip turned black.

[Daniel Meyer]

Advise a little late now, but from one who has taken a LOT of juice in his day...

Any time you take a hit like that...lightning or just electricity...where you actually feel heat/jolt and have ANY physiological effects, you need to go to the ER or your doctor if he can do an EKG...hits like that can set up heart issues that may not show up for hours and can cause folks to drop dead several hours after a hit.

Glad you are okay!

[BonS]

The old Orlando Navy Base used to have some of those metal quonset buildings. Years ago, during a summer storm I was working in one and was headed to the parking lot but stopped to get a drink from the fountain. About 40' away a bolt hit the blacktop just outside the door...right where I would have been walking to the car. Strange that it didn't hit the metal bldg., but the shock slammed me in the mouth as I was getting a drink. Felt like one of Ali's right hooks, threw me across the hallway and up against a filing cabinet sitting there. I'm with Tim on this one....talk about a headache, and my lip felt like it does after a shot of Novocain at the dentist. Someone heard the bang and apparently I had let out a yell, they helped me to a big chair and I sat for about an hour before they'd let me leave. My jaw muscles hurt for days and my lower lip turned black.

hey, i lived at McCoy Naval annex in Orlando the three years i went to Engineering college at UCF. that was 1983-1986. Went on the Navy base alot too (on the other side of town)...to go to the main BX, etc.

A Youngster! I worked at the Naval Training Equipment Center at McCoy before it moved off the base and out to FTU! I received my BSE in 1978. What is this UCF you speak of? Did you know that Central Florida is the lightening capital of the world?

[Stanley Steamer]

Dang.....we may have to start calling you Sparky??.......

[sugerbear]

PM sent

[Valker]

Advise a little late now, but from one who has taken a LOT of juice in his day...

Any time you take a hit like that...lightning or just electricity...where you actually feel heat/jolt and have ANY physiological effects, you need to go to the ER or your doctor if he can do an EKG...hits like that can set up heart issues that may not show up for hours and can cause folks to drop dead several hours after a hit.

Glad you are okay!

Dang, Daniel. Where were you in 1986 when I got hit in Wyoming? Never heard that before. My hit was no where near as hard as the OP though! I'm glad about that. My legs just started jerking and I could see a blue arc going from ankle to ankle for about 5 seconds. I think it actually struck the tree behind me.

[Thunderbolt]

I wasn't in the ham shack at the time, but I have a metal plate on the wall and quite a few bulkhead connectors where all the cables from the antenna's are connected.  I had nothing connected on the inside of the building but had cables hooked to the radio's and they were laying on the floor.  Best I can figure is when lightning hit my tower which is grounded by the way, it induced a surge into the cables laying on the floor and fried the processor and amplifiers, as well as a keyer.  It also blew the paneling next to the bulkhead connector apart and burned the insulation undeneath.
I think lightning has a mind of it's own.

[BigAl]

The Great Outdoors - Lightning Rod Reg	powered by Aeva

[Grumpy]

I can relate to the double strike, several years ago lightning struck the power line coming into my house, fried a microwave, lost 2 fans in the fridges and took out several other appliances. 15 min later I went into my shop to check it, and when I walked into it, I heard a sound that sounded like an explosion, my hair stood up and I felt a strong shock, a min later I noticed the roof was leaking (metal roof), I looked up and there was a 3 inch hole in the roof, that looked like it had been cut with a hole saw. I assume it took a direct hit. It smoked the shops 150 amp breaker panel, actually melted the bus bars in it. I have a healthy respect for lightning now.

[..]

About time you moved to the city. Maybe an apartment? 

[Bama Red]

Lightning hit a large pine tree while we were parked along side it (with several other cars) at our middle daughter's house. All the vehicles were parked on the grass between the trees and the driveway. After the lightning wiped out the tree, our oldest girl found here car would not start (her ins. co. totaled the car - $6000 in elec. damage). Our SUV had almost $5000 in damage, including entry and exit holes in the front fender. The lightning came in our radio antenna, fried the entire stereo/radio/CD/speakers, fried the heating/AC system, wiped out the onboard computer and all its little slave computers and blew out all the light bulbs. Took them a month to "fix" it and we traded it the next month (no way in he!! that vehicle was ever gonna be right again).

None of the cars parked on the concrete driveway were damaged at all.

[~ Timbrwolf]

....welcome to the Club my friend


...last year we were on the last leg of our...Texas and Beyond...Road Trip...we had just had breakfast with the notorious TNT and a friend of hers at a local Cracker Barrel in Tennesse...we already knew the weather report...and it wasnt the best...a huge front was comming out Texas and approaching fast....and another was streaching out across lower Michigan ...Ohio..and part of Kentucky ahead of us....and to compound it all...for the first time during this entire awesome adventure... we had to "make time"...as it was Friday and Chili needed to be at work Monday Morning....so we headed out towing our trailer and made the best time we could..all the time trying to stay ahead of the storm behind us...while trying not to ride into the front ahead of us...too soon.....we were making good time and had decent weather ...until we hit Kentucky...suddenly the skies opened up and it began to pour...ordinarily we would have sought refuge under an overpass or a local restaurant for a cup of hot coffee...while we tried to wait it out...but as I said...time was of the essence...so on we rode...well it really started to pour, but that didnt deter us...we were zooming along at 75 mph trailer in tow...when we came upon a semi truck in the slow lane dong about 65...I pulled into the fast lane and began to pass him ...just as we both began to ride under an overpass....I passed him and was gauging his distance behind me, so I had enough room to pull back in...just as we both went under the over pass, I hit a wet tar snake and then the passing line painted on the road..also wet...I was watching the semi in my side view when suddenly I went into a high speed wobble...the front bars were vibrating violently...I quickly bought my attention back to the handlebars and gripped them tightly...I bought us back out of the wobble as quickly as we went into it...with this semi about 75 feet behind us !...in the blink of an eye...we rode back out into the pouring rain the semi roaring back out right behind us...thats when it happened...all of a sudden a white light came silently out of the sky on our right..and struck a pole...thats when everything suddenly went into slow motion...I looked over at the lighting that was still hitting the pole...the telephone pole had two transformers attached that began to hum loudly...suddenly the right one burst into the flames and exploded ...two wires fell away in flames...then the other one also burst into flames and exploded..the two wires that were attached to it fell away in flames...and a bright light came up around the bike and I felt a slight tingle run up my right arm...this all happened in the blink of an eye...we roared past the telephone pole at 75 mph...the semi still hot on our ass....I was stunned...I turned back to Chili and said...did you see that ?!?!?!? ...she said she didnt see the lighting strike the pole..but had seen the bright white light come up around the bike..I told her I needed to get off the bike because I think I just got hit by lighting !!! ......so we took the next exit and hit a gas station...I dismounted and started walking back and forth...all the time reliving what had just happened...thats when I noticed that my right arm was beginning to spasm and slowly tighten up...with in 5 minutes ...all the muscles in my right arm were in a knot all the way up to my shoulder...



...now the timing of all of it was incredible...passing the semi...going under the overpass...hitting the tar snake and then white line and going into the high speed wobble..comming right back out of the wobble while riding back out into the pouring rain ...a huge semi hot on our ass...and then to be hit by lighting....and live to tell the story ! ....I,ll tell ya what...thats THE closest Ive ever come to being killed on my bike...without crashing....Im still amazed at what happened when I look back....what a way to end an incredible two week road trip !



...Funny thing is...when I finally got my wits about me at the gas station...we still needed to make time...so we decided to ride on.....it was friggin pouring...cars were pulling over and putting their flashers on...but on we trekked...hydro-planning at times...my boots and pants were soaked...I had my rain suit and Gerbings on...and rain was slowly comming in my collar area and beginning to soak my shirt..I was afraid my Gerbing was going to ZAPPP me !! ...then we saw a Jaguar car...riding the wrong way down the super slab...comming towards us ! ...the whole right side was ripped up...still on we rode...it wasnt unti we came up on another accident...a car down in a ditch..over turned...the ambulance had just arrived..I turned and told Chili...thats it...were done for the day...were seeking shelter and a nice warm bottle of Captain Morgan !    ..after several attempts..we finally found a hotel that ws open...walking into the lobby I could hear my feet shoshing in my soaked boots....I had about an inch of water in them...


...we finally made it to Michigan and shelter...


...two things I learned....when you find yourself on the road and it suddenly begins to pour with lighting all around you.....seek shelter !



...the second thing was..I definitely needed "water proof booties" for my boots and...water proof gloves...both of which I got the next month at Americade..  

[hubcapsc]

I have a healthy respect for lightning now.

Yea, it pays to respect an electrical discharge with enough potential to make an
 arc jump between the sky and the ground 


Next time, if you must go out during a lightning storm, wear those h
eavy rubber boots you use to muck out the barn.

I'll bet you a quarter that something that can arc between the
ground and the sky wouldn't even notice that there was a quarter
inch of rubber under your feet

Apparently you would be protected in your car because it is a
"faraday cage" (not because of the rubber tires), but by the time you
start using words like "faraday cage" I start remembering that as
far as I'm concerned, electricity is magic.

-Mike