Almost struck by Lightning!

[CHAINCHOMP]

this may be the wrong place to post this, but i mostly post in this section, so i decided that this would be a good place to tell this story to account for my absence. so mods, please do not move this post. thanks.

Two days ago i was standing in my house during a thunder storm, and all of the sudden, i heard the loudest, earth shattering, crack and boom id ever heard. It was the loudest thing ive heard in my life. For about 5 seconds all i could see was a huge flash of bluish white light that blinded me momentarily. Right after, i heard glass shattering, and large crashes and booms. I go from my bed room to my dining room, to explore, only to find out that a window fan i had, was on the ground, and wasnt on anymore. It looked perfectly fine, nothing different. Then i notice that no electricity in my house was working. I looked out my dining room window only to see a huge hole in the side of an elm tree i have in my back yard. Also, a huge branch from the tree was burned, broken, and detached from the tree. Turns out, lightning had bolted down, stuck my elm tree, bolted over, hit a large metal can of water (recipe for disaster i know), zapped all of the water out of the can, and bolted over and hit my window fan, went through the cord on the fan, knocked out the fuse, and destroyed my internet modem in the process. Surprisingly the window fan still works fine! I found chunks of tree bark all over, and up to 20 feet away from the tree! It was really scary, and i hope it never happens again. So i had to wait for my internet company to send me a new modem, so thats why i havent posted in 2 days. Keep it up and hh! [R.I.P. Rich Hartford]

 

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[ImpurestStewart]

Glad you are okay! I once was almost struck by lightning as well. We were on the church bus in a horrid storm. Lightning hit a transformer right as we passed. The only thing I saw was solid white nothingness that faded into solid red nothingness and my vision slowly returned. It was like a matrix moment. Luckily the bus driver didn't wreck!!

 

[favored papa]

glad it missed you. love your posts

 

[Yagershots]

Wow.... Glad you are okay. One time my friends and I were in the Poconos for a paint ball trip. It was the end of the day and a wicked storm rolled in. We were waiting under a prefabricated metal building with an awning for the buses to take us back to the cars. My friend and another guy were leaning up against a wall. All of a sudden we hear this load smack and bright white flash. My friend and this guy both dropped to the ground. Lighting had struck either the building or close enough to the building that it traveled up the metal wall and zapped both of them. They were both fine. But it was scary to see.

Again glad you are okay. I too enjoy your posts. John HH

 

[apush]

Glad you are okay! Wow, that would have really given me a good ol' fashion scare.

apush

 

[clovis97]

Glad to know you are alright!

A few years ago, a similar thing happened here...I thought lightning had hit our house, but actually hit the house next door, and it burned to the ground.

 

[captainfwiffo]

I used to have a job as phone support at a local dial-up Internet company. After a big storm went through we'd always get calls about people trying to get in and getting "no dial tone". It was because their modem was fried by the storm. Fried computers were pretty rare (usually their TV, stereo, etc. would be toast too, in that case). They'd always protest that answer, saying they had a surge protector. Of course, the majority of surge protectors don't protect the phone line, and even when they have that feature, most people don't think to use it.

In fact, a surge protector is a very good thing to have (a UPS is a much better thing to have), but it has limits. A lightning bolt just jumped through miles of open air, it would have no problem jumping over a foot of surge protector if it hit your phone or power line directly; it would probably just vaporize it. Near misses produce powerful electric fields that induce spikes and brownouts and other sorts of noise on power and phone lines, and that's what surge protectors are guarding against. With direct hits, you should expect to lose a lot of electronics (though some will randomly be untouched). That's what insurance is for.

Stay safe!

 

[TheRockDoc]

Wow Buddy, Pretty crazy stuff. I have never had that close of a call, and I hope I never do. That is scary. Glad to hear you are fine. Hey, here is something that I still cant get over, I heard a couple of years ago, that lightning strikes from the ground up... I really didnt believe it, but after some research, it seems that most of the time, lightning goes from the ground up, and not the sky to the ground. Is that "common knowledge" or is it new to some of you?

 

[ckrakowski]

i have known for years that lightning starts from the ground and i find it funny when somebody says that lightning only comes from the sky and not from the ground.

 

[quiksilver]

Waiting to hear the tree uprooted some coins.....

 

[byrne3]

I'm glad you are ok ChainChomp!!

Keep it up and HH!! R.I.P. Rich Hartford

 

[CHAINCHOMP]

Thank you all for your kind words, and encouraging posts! TheRockDoc, i have never heard of that! now im telling other people i know, and they have never heard that too! thats very interesting! thanks for the info! Cap'n, just wondering, so during a lightning storm is the safest thing to do unplug all electronics? Clovis, thats really scary! not im gonna go dig a trench, and hide in it during a storm so my house doesnt burn down...Yager, that sounds REALLY REALLY scary, im so sorry to hear that happened to you and your friends, though im glad you and your friends are ok! Keep it up and hh! [R.I.P. Rich Hartford]

 

[captainfwiffo]

Unplugging stuff is the safest thing to do, but that means unplugging everything - power, phone lines, cable, etc. It's not a guarantee (if lightning actually hits your house, it could do almost anything, or nothing at all), but it does reduce the odds of something getting fried. It may be impractical though. I live in Florida, so if I unplugged everything every time it stormed, I would be living like a caveman during the summer.

 

[CHAINCHOMP]

Unplugging stuff is the safest thing to do, but that means unplugging everything - power, phone lines, cable, etc. It's not a guarantee (if lightning actually hits your house, it could do almost anything, or nothing at all), but it does reduce the odds of something getting fried. It may be impractical though. I live in Florida, so if I unplugged everything every time it stormed, I would be living like a caveman during the summer.

thank you very much, in CO we dont get TOO many thunder storms, so ill unplug everything just to be safe. thanks again! Keep it up and hh! [R.I.P. Rich Hartford]

 

[diggummup]

I was sitting in the kitchen at a house I lived in years ago and a bolt of lightning hit the chain link fence right outside the window about 8 feet from where I was sitting, traveled down the fence and caught a tree on fire. Freakiest thing I ever experienced.

 

[fistfulladirt]

I used to have a job as phone support at a local dial-up Internet company. After a big storm went through we'd always get calls about people trying to get in and getting "no dial tone". It was because their modem was fried by the storm. Fried computers were pretty rare (usually their TV, stereo, etc. would be toast too, in that case). They'd always protest that answer, saying they had a surge protector. Of course, the majority of surge protectors don't protect the phone line, and even when they have that feature, most people don't think to use it.

In fact, a surge protector is a very good thing to have (a UPS is a much better thing to have), but it has limits. A lightning bolt just jumped through miles of open air, it would have no problem jumping over a foot of surge protector if it hit your phone or power line directly; it would probably just vaporize it. Near misses produce powerful electric fields that induce spikes and brownouts and other sorts of noise on power and phone lines, and that's what surge protectors are guarding against. With direct hits, you should expect to lose a lot of electronics (though some will randomly be untouched). That's what insurance is for.

Stay safe!

You are absolutely right cap'n. I've fixed telecom lines for 15 years and power surges and spikes are the worst! Glad you are alive CHain Chomp!

 

[kb4iqm]

I was nailed by lightning in 1995, a shocking experience. One that I recommend you avoid at all costs!

I lived in Florida at the time. One of those common summer afternoon thunderstorms rolled in. Nearby thunder woke me (worked the night before), so I was laying awake in bed. Lightning struck the TV antenna outside and entered the room through the TV antenna jack, jumped to the metal bookstand next to the bed, jumped into the side of my right hand, and exited my right ankle, where it jumped to a telephone next to the foot of the bed. I felt an extreme jolt, then everything went numb, was unable to feel anything. I was unable to move for what seemed an eternity, but wifey said it was only about a minute before I called her name and asked her to dial 911.

Wifey was unable to dial 911 from home. All of the phones were fried and the phone lines from the house to the street were destroyed. The hospital treated the burns and said I was lucky that my heart was undamaged. I sure didn't feel so lucky. For about a week I was in agony from all the muscles that had clamped tight from the jolt, mostly in my chest and my right side. I was partially paralyzed on my right side.

Afterwards, I started showing other symptoms of lightning strike injury. Early onset arthritis, short and mid term memory loss, peripheral nerve damage, impaired motor function, irregular heart rythm, personality changes, ect. It became serious enough that I ended up being declared disabled due to the lightning strike injury.

Over time I improved slightly, but still suffer from severe arthritis, stroke-like symptoms on my right side, and heart rythm issues. I worked around the short and mid term memory loss by learning to take the time to concentrate on committing important things directly to long term memory.

Lots of negatives, I know, but I do feel that the personality changes were a huge positive. Being kind to and feeling compassion for others is so much better than the old me. The old selfish me that only cared about making lots of money and getting ahead, at all costs.

Bob

 

[CHAINCHOMP]

I was nailed by lightning in 1995, a shocking experience. One that I recommend you avoid at all costs!

I lived in Florida at the time. One of those common summer afternoon thunderstorms rolled in. Nearby thunder woke me (worked the night before), so I was laying awake in bed. Lightning struck the TV antenna outside and entered the room through the TV antenna jack, jumped to the metal bookstand next to the bed, jumped into the side of my right hand, and exited my right ankle, where it jumped to a telephone next to the foot of the bed. I felt an extreme jolt, then everything went numb, was unable to feel anything. I was unable to move for what seemed an eternity, but wifey said it was only about a minute before I called her name and asked her to dial 911.

Wifey was unable to dial 911 from home. All of the phones were fried and the phone lines from the house to the street were destroyed. The hospital treated the burns and said I was lucky that my heart was undamaged. I sure didn't feel so lucky. For about a week I was in agony from all the muscles that had clamped tight from the jolt, mostly in my chest and my right side. I was partially paralyzed on my right side.

Afterwards, I started showing other symptoms of lightning strike injury. Early onset arthritis, short and mid term memory loss, peripheral nerve damage, impaired motor function, irregular heart rythm, personality changes, ect. It became serious enough that I ended up being declared disabled due to the lightning strike injury.

Over time I improved slightly, but still suffer from severe arthritis, stroke-like symptoms on my right side, and heart rythm issues. I worked around the short and mid term memory loss by learning to take the time to concentrate on committing important things directly to long term memory.

Lots of negatives, I know, but I do feel that the personality changes were a huge positive. Being kind to and feeling compassion for others is so much better than the old me. The old selfish me that only cared about making lots of money and getting ahead, at all costs.

Bob

oh my god! im soooo sorry to hear this! that sounds horrible! im glad you survived though! again, im so sorry to hear this! thats terrible!

 

[dpy52081]

are u going to carve a bat and make a later in life entry to the big leagues Roy Hobbes Style?