Electrifying experience

[drew70]

The weirdest thing happened to me yesterday. First let me paint the setting. I live out in the country. I have a gravel driveway, and a new 2 car garage. It's been raining almost every day for a week and yesterday it was coming down like cats and dogs. My gravel driveway had dozens of little waterstreams flowing away from the house.

From the garage there are a few steps that go down to the basement door. In that small area outside the basement door water was seaping up through the old cracked concrete. Evidently the water tables were quite high. So I had my wet vac out there and every 20 minutes or so I'd vacuum out all the water, then carry it outside and dump it. This activity of course left a few small puddles here and there on the garage floor.

My buddy Sean was over doing some tile work in the new bathroom. We were both in the garage talking when suddenly there was a crash of thunder followed by flash of blinding light and a loud pop inside the garage! I said "Jesus, what the fuck was that?!! I looked down, and noticed that the junction of the wet vac's power cord and the extension cord was sitting very close to a puddle of water. So I'm thinking it must have gotten wet, creating a short, causing the flash and pop....mystery solved, right?

Well, no, not exactly. You see, when I examined the power cord there was no black residue from any flash...no burn marks. An arc that bright and loud would have surely thrown the breaker, but I was able to turn the wet vac on and it powered right up. So if it wasn't the wet vac, what was it?!

Lightening. Had to have been. The lightening struck somewhere near by, and followed the surface water on the gound and into my garage, thanks to the puddles I had created, and down that old drainpipe. Fortunately, both Sean and I were wearing boots with rubber soles.

Needless to say, this incident shook us both up a little. It's the kind of thing that's difficult to believe without having been there to see it happen. I know better than to run around outside during an electrical storm, but it never occurred to me that lightening could come right into my house that way.

 

[Mimi]

I hear ya. My daughter (who was around 4 or 5 at the time) and I were stuck coming home in a really bad thunderstorm one summer evening in 2000. We pulled up in our driveway and I opened my van door and began to shuffle both of us quickly out of the vehicle through my side. No sooner did we clear and shut the van door, there was a HUGE blinding flash of light, a deafening clap, and an intense heat that not only made out hair stand on end, but singed parts of it right down to the skin. My daughter began screaming bloody murder, and I sat there stunned for a second. Once I got my bearings and my vision cleared, I could see there was a big black spot on the ground a mere 2 feet from where we were standing. We came 2 FEET from being struck by lightning. Talk about terrifying!

My daughter, who will be 10 this summer, is still neurotically petrified of hard rain or thunder or lightning. I mean she totally spazzes out and runs for cover along with the cats under the bed. It hasn't scarred me quite as bad, but needless to say when I see lightning outside, I keep my fat ass INDOORS.

I feel for ya, Drew! Thank goodness both you and your friend are okay!!

Mimi 🙂

 

[Limeoutsider]

I mean she totally spazzes out and runs for cover along with the cats under the bed. It hasn't scarred me quite as bad, but needless to say when I see lightning outside, I keep my fat ass INDOORS.

I feel for ya, Drew! Thank goodness both you and your friend are okay!!

Mimi 🙂

I do both and I havent had a near zapping experience (ask me about the extension cord and pair of scissors)

 

[He-Man]

Lightning can do some weird stuff...I remember watching a special about it on either TLC or Discovery Channel. They had one guy who got paralyzed from the waiste down after being struck. But then a few months...or years..later, he got struck AGAIN, but that time it enabled him to walk again-- although with a little difficulty, I think (at least it's better than not at all,though).

 

[drew70]

My daughter, who will be 10 this summer, is still neurotically petrified of hard rain or thunder or lightning. I mean she totally spazzes out and runs for cover along with the cats under the bed. It hasn't scarred me quite as bad, but needless to say when I see lightning outside, I keep my fat ass INDOORS.

I feel for ya, Drew! Thank goodness both you and your friend are okay!!

Mimi 🙂

Wow Meems, that's a close shave! I feel for your daughter, as she'll likely carry this around with her for the rest of her life. I didn't feel any heat or any electricity, I think it was a rather small portion of the lightening bolt, but Sean saw it snake across the garage floor. I was looking up at the time and the entire garage was filled with light for a split second. Sean was a nervous nelly for the rest of the day, as was I.

 

[Mitchell]

Very scary experiences, Drew and Mimi.

I dont recall if I posted this before, but one time in summer camp,our cabin was on an overnight at a camp site, and suddenly, a huge thunderstorm and heavy rain crashed the tent we were in, and made us run like hell. We had to run all the way back to the cabin in severe thunderstorms for about 2 or 3 miles, and nearly got hit. The camp always told us to crouch low in the middle of a covered field if we could find one during a thunderstorm, but there wasnt any on this path. Luckily, despite some very close calls with lightning, we made it back to the cabin in one piece, and managed not to get hit by lightning. Ever since then, I have hated thunderstorms, especially severe ones, and we seem to get hit by those here quite often.
So, I feel for you guys. Sorry to hear about your close calls. I've had one or two of my own. That can be scary.

Mitch