Near-miss in 2001 while walking to a hunting stand. Hit a mesquite tree 50 or so yards ahead, blue dots and ringing ears and a smoldering chunk of mesquite right at my feet. Hardly a cloud in the sky. Titanium bow and carbon arrows may be the death of me one fine day.
My father-in-law was hit by lightning when he was a little kid while standing under the eaves of his school house in the early 1930s.
A lot of Arizonans have been in a situation similar to Jaime Santana’s minus the lightening strike. The summer thunderstorms come up so fast and bring a lot of lightning with them. I used to sit in my house in Oracle and watch the lightening play over the Galiuro Mountains across the San Pedro River Valley. Beautiful and awe inspiring sight.
Last Saturday into Sunday I was on call and got a call out for an emergency utility locate for a busted water main. There was a pine tree about 50ft from the main that had the telltale sign of a lightening strike down the side of the tree not to mention that half the roots were blown out of the ground. The strike blew a 12ft section of the main to shreds. There were pieces of the main on the opposite side of the road. There was also an AT&T pedestal nearby that I could no longer find. The phone drop that ran from the ped about 500ft to a church was fried, there was a large scorch mark and melted plastic on the side of the church where the interface box was.
Made some good money that weekend with 27 straight hours on the clock.
I saw lightning strike a small tree across the street from me. It blew the leaves off like you blowing on a dandelion.
My sister lost 2 computers to 2 separate lightning strikes over the years. One was across the street and the electricity went threw her phone line, up the stairs to the 2nd floor and zapped her combo printer/scanner and the pc. The scanner was going back and forth on it’s own after that. The phone line was melted. The 2nd hit the neighbors tree in the back yard and zapped her pc. I tell her it is because she is evil and someone above is out to get her.