Lightning: A Bolt from the Blue

The wrath of God or a force of Nature

Call it what you will, lightning is a killer. Approximately 3 million lightning flashes occur around the world every single day, and every year it accounts for more deaths than floods, tornadoes or hurricanes.

Travelling at about 22,500km/h (14,000mph) towards the ground, and carrying 300,000 volts of electricity, a lightning bolt heats the air around it to 28,000°C – almost five times hotter than the surface of the Sun. If you happen to be standing in the way, you could be in for a nasty shock.

On June 21, 2003, Jennifer from Pensacola, Florida, was on the telephone. Her husband was outside, when there was a huge flash of lightning and a thunderclap that sounded "like a cannon going off". Hurrying into the house, he discovered that, somehow, the lightning had struck Jennifer.

She described the sensation of this strange phenomenon: "Lightning running through my body and out the front of my legs. I was on our cordless phone when lightning entered through my left ear, travelled down my body and out the front of my legs. The lightning formed a big orb around my legs and then dissipated into the floor. The phone was shot out of my hand and into the pot on the back burner of the stove.'

When lightning flows over the body in this way, it is known as an external flashover. It can also flow through the body, causing internal damage. In Jennifer’s case, the damage appeared to be external. "I had discoloration to both fronts of my lower leg area and bruising, however no burns, and only one blister. The phone ironically still works, however the charge was drained out of it."

But, as is often the case with lightning victims, Jennifer did not feel the worst of the effects immediately. "On the way to the hospital I started twitching slightly and feeling cold from the inside out. I went into seizures approximately 30 minutes after the strike and they lasted about three hours. I spent a couple of days in the hospital. I was left unable to walk on my own, but could move all my muscles. My vision was blurry for weeks … Everything in my body was shaking for weeks and I was cold continually."

It was six weeks before Jennifer could feel warmth in her body. The lasting legacy of her brush with lightning included memory loss, vision problems, hypersensitive hearing, numbness and all-over weakness. But through it all, Jennifer remained positive: "I am so thankful to be alive and know that I am blessed to still be here."