With the onset of the monsoon, heavy rains lashed parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and lightning strikes claimed the lives of around 57 people in Bihar and 12 in UP. The death toll is expected to rise.
Also Read: Lightning Strikes Kill 55 People in Bihar, Death Toll to Rise
Earlier in May, lightning killed close to 40 people in Bangladesh.
In September last year, tragedy struck in Andhra Pradesh when lightning killed 22 people after at least eight districts were ravaged by thunderstorms and rain.
The odds of each of the above casualties is 1 in 1.9 million, according to the Smithsonian magazine. But there exists bizarre instances that warrant our attention and demand the need to exercise caution during a lightning storm.
The numbers of casualties would raise eyebrows considering, how despite being a rare phenomenon, it caused the death of six teenaged boys in Odisha’s Khurda district in March 2015. The school-going boys, who were watching a cricket match, were hit by a lightning bolt and did not recover from the cardiac arrest and shock.
A Kansas University student Tracy Pillard surprisingly lived to tell the tale of how she was knocked over and her jeans blown to smithereens when she was hit by lightning.
There’s also 31-year-old science major Ted Baker who was left with one-to-two inch holes in his head, when he was struck by lightning while trekking in the Colorado Rockies. He woke up the next morning with burns all over his body, lost full use of his legs and remembers little apart from the bright flashes.
And then there’s a soccer fan who remembers his “shoe exploding” when the current left his body.
What Lightning Can Do to a Human Body
Getting hit by lightning does not necessarily kill. Speaking to The Washington Post, Dr Mary Ann Cooper, an expert on lightning injuries, claims that approximately 90 percent of those hit by lightning survive, but often with long-lasting neurological damage.
1. A lightning bolt can carry as much as 300 KV of energy. The surrounding air can heat up to 50,000 degrees, which means that one can literally burst into flames or be left with deep entry and exit wounds if struck by lightning.
2. One can also be left with Lichtenberg scarring (image below), which is a result of blood vessels bursting.
3. In rare cases, the electric discharge from a lightning bolt can instantly stop the heart and cause cardiac arrest. Sometimes, victims are known to recover from the cardiac arrest without serious brain damage.
4. In some cases, however the electric current can cause irreparable damage to nerves and lead to a permanent state of paralysis or numbness in limbs.
5. Ruptured ear drums, however, appears to be among the most common after-effects in people struck by lightning.
Precautions
1. Lightning hits the tallest target in the vicinity. So avoid taking shelter under a solitary tree, or get off elevated areas likes hills, mountain tops or ridges. Do not take shelter under a cliff or a rocky overhang.
2. If you hear thunder, lightning is close enough to cause serious damage, so look for shelter in a car with a metal top or a building with a concrete roof and walls.
3. Stay off corded phones, computers and other electrical appliances.
4. If you happen to be in an open ground with no shelter, do not lie down on the floor. This will only increase the contact area. Try to crouch on the floor with just your toes touching the ground.
5. Immediately get out of water bodies and stay away from objects that conduct electricity like barbed fences, power lines and windmills.
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