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Surviving and Avoiding Lightning

Reviewed By: Andrew Seibert,

SOURCES: 2010 Medical Reference from Medstar Television. Mary Ann Cooper, MD, Emergency Physician, University of Illinois at Chicago. Katie Fehlinger, Weather Broadcaster, AccuWeather.com, State College, Pa.

© 1999-2011 Medstar Television

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Narrator:

These lazy, hazy days of summer can sometimes put us in the path of thunderstorms and lightning.

Thunder.

Katie Fehlinger:

You can't have thunder without lightning. So, any thunderstorm that's ever out there, there will always be lightning with it.

Narrator:

Lightning kills about 60 people a year, and injures an average of three hundred in the US, mostly by indirect lightning strikes.

Mary Ann Cooper, M.D.:

Lightning is so quick and so much of it flashes over the outside of the person instead of going through them that we seldom see any significant burns on the person at all. However, what we do see with lightning, lightning is a neurological injury.

Narrator:

Doctor Cooper has practically written the book on lightning injuries, and says the effects can last a lifetime.

Mary Ann Cooper, M.D.:

We see chronic pain problems. We also see thought processing problems from the brain injury, so that people may have difficulty multi-tasking, returning to their prior work.

Narrator:

Her mission — help you avoid a lightning strike.

Mary Ann Cooper, M.D.:

You can only hear thunder about ten miles away. That means that lightning strike, the next one that's going to hit can be anywhere within a ten mile radius of that, which means you're already in the danger zone.

Narrator:

If you hear thunder, take shelter. And that means inside a substantial building with wiring or plumbing, not an open structure or pavilion. Another option — escape to a car with a solid, metal roof.

Mary Ann Cooper, M.D.:

Electricity always goes along the outside of a conductor, the outside of copper wires, the outside of the metal car.

Narrator:

And keep this in mind. If your hair feels like it's standing on end, watch out.

Katie Fehlinger:

If that happens, lightning is getting ready to strike and it's getting ready to come down close to you. So, you want to get to the lowest place that you can possibly get to. Never lay on the ground, but just crouch down, get on the balls of your feet.

Narrator:

Because a bolt out of the blue can change your life. For WebMD, I'm Sandee LaMotte.

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