LYNN HAVEN — At least two people were injured in separate lightning strikes after a particularly intense storm rolled through the Panama City region on Monday morning.
A 16-year-old Lynn Haven boy was sent to the hospital in critical but stable condition after police say he was struck while heading inside after mowing lawns on Inverness Road that morning. The victim’s brother, also a teenager, was walking ahead when he heard a loud crash behind him and then saw his brother on the ground, unresponsive, according to Sgt. Steve McNeil with Lynn Haven Police.
A homeowner came outside and was able to help move the victim inside and began performing CPR before he was taken to the hospital. Lynn Haven Fire Chief John DeLonjay said it hadn’t yet been determined whether it was a direct or indirect strike that injured the teenager.
Further west, William Young was taking cover under a shed in Alys Beach, along 30A, when the storm rolled in. He works in landscaping, and he and his supervisor were chatting while waiting for the storm to pass when there was a bright flash, and Young said he saw the current from the lightning travel up the walls and floor, and then straight up his legs.
“I thought I was completely fine, and the next thing I knew I was hit,” he recalled. “It didn’t feel too great.”
Young said he went to the emergency room as a precaution, but was otherwise uninjured. Next time, he said he’ll do a better job taking shelter from a storm.
“I might take more precautions, sure,” he said. “Obviously I wasn’t too safe.”
McNeil said lightning strikes in the area are “somewhat rare” but not entirely unheard of. Last year, a man was killed in Baker while camping with family members. In 2012, a teenager and his stepfather were killed by a lightning strike in Panama City Beach, and in 1996, a lightning strike killed a Bay High School student as she walked across campus.
A man in South Florida was also struck by lightning Monday morning outside of his condominium. According to the Sun Sentinel, a Broward County man was seriously injured when his condominium was struck during a storm.
An average of about 49 people are killed by lightning strikes every year, with Florida among the highest in the country for lightning deaths, according to the National Weather Service. So far this year, four people have been killed by lightning, two of whom were in Florida.
There are several ways lightning can injure a person, and most injuries and casualties are caused by currents traveling through the ground from a nearby strike. Even though they may not be hit directly, the current still travels through the person’s cardiovascular and nervous systems and can cause major injury. Lightning can also strike people directly, or injure them through a side flash, when the current jumps from a nearby tree or other object.
According to the Weather Service, the primary injuries to a person from a lightning strike, beyond burns, are cardiac arrest, along with brain and nerve injury. After the initial recovery, neurological issues can persist, including problems processing information, memory loss, headaches, persistent ringing in ears and trouble sleeping. Some victims even report changes in personality and depression.