What happens if a person gets struck by lightning?

In the United States, each year, 80 people are killed by lightning strikes. The odds are 1 in 28,000 that any one person will be struck. That average goes down if you are doing something reckless, such as...golfing in a thunder store for example. Here is what happens if you do get struck.

Your body will be under direct influence of the strike for approximately 3 milliseconds.

1/3 of people will die from cardiac arrest, myocardial infraction, inhibition of their brainstem's respiratory centers or just from a catastrophic, multisystem failure.

The majority of people will:

• Suffer the burst of at least one eardrums.
• Fall unconsciousness.
• Have 3rd degree burns from metal they were in contact with at the time of the strike such as jewelry. There will also be very small, but deep burns at the entry and exit wound sites.
• Experience complete (but temporary) paralysis.
• Experience bursting capillaries under the skin.

In addition:

• Clothing may become shredded, torn off or singed.
• Early on, survivors will complain of intense headaches, ringing in the ears, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and other post-concussion types of symptoms.

Long-term effects that 70% of report:

• Numbness/Weakness in limbs.
• Sleep and memory disorders
• Storm Phobia and/or Post Traumatic Stress disorder.
• Development of seizure-like activity several weeks or even months after the injury.
• Possible personality changes because of frontal lobe damage and increased irritability and anger.

To avoid a lightning strike:

• If you hear thunder you are within range of a ground strike.
• On average, lightning strikes the earth about 100 times every second.
• By counting the seconds between the flash and the thunder and dividing by 5, you can estimate your distance from the strike in miles.