lightning strike

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TONY CHANEY

Contributor
Messages
1,747
Reaction score
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Location
Mount Holly, NC
# of dives
1000 - 2499
I have decided to not let this out until I talked to my wife and my daughters who are in Japan first. To clear things up and to let others know what happened, yes Wed. I was hit by lighting. I have been diving for over 15 years with well over 700 dives to include wrecks, deep, night, fresh water, salt water, decompression, caves, hunting, etc. This day would be very different. Of all places...in my pool. The instructor and I were teaching an 18 yo student and the son of a diver that we have given intruction toward more advance classes. We noticed that there were clouds and darkness way south of us which appeared to be near the Pineville area. We were all checking our weather apps and things looked clear here in Mt. holly. So after the student finished his basic swim quals we enter the water. Me with a steel 120 cuft tank, Ryan and the student with Alum. 80's. I started to put on my boots and fins on but the instructor said that fins were not needed on this dive. So I was bare footed but they both had booties on. We decended to the bottom at 7' and started to do various drills. Around 20-30 minutes I saw a flash and asked the instructor if he saw the same thing. He said yes and we gave the sign to go up or out. We went to the steps and started our exit. Ryan was out first and running toward the shelter. I was second and just as I was going up the steps I saw the student still looking around. I yelled to him that we need to get out of here now. I looked back at the exit and grabbed the hand rail. It was at that point that I saw a very bright flash and then was slammed to the ground like never before. I had a sharp pain going down my left arm and a lot of pain from my legs from hitting the cement. I made it to the shelter uneventful. I was checking my pulse and doing a neuro check. All is well but it is something that I will never forget nor wish anyone ever goes thru. I have had some OMG moments in diving but never nothing like this. I have been hit several times in my life but nothing like this. It seemed like it almost picked me up and slammed me on the cement. So what we do not know is how the storm got there so fast, did the steel tank have a factor and if the rubber boots had a factor. I was the only one hit. It was not a direct hit but from reading on the internet it was more of a side hit which traveled across the ground. So when it starts to get dark and a strom cell starts moving in...seek shelter ASAP. I am glad that I am here to share this. It was just not my day to go.
 
Wow that must have been a great shock! I hope you are ok now.

I have read somewhere that you can be struck by lightning from a storm that is several kilometres away. It doesn't have to be above you for you to get struck.
I have often thought about the effect of a lightning strike on divers that are diving in the ocean. Being a biker I have grown to notice when a storm is brewing without thinking about it.

We once dove a quarry and heard a loud bang when we were underwater. We also noticed that the ground was shaking. At first we thought it might be a lightning strike and carried on diving. We later heard that it was a nearby mine doing some explosive work underground.

Enjoy your diving !
 
Tony,
Glad to hear you're OK. I have been hit mildly twice & Dr. X once. We now stay out of the water if there is any chance of lightning. One of my hits was over 1K back in a cave.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
Glad you are OK after that incident. As a child, I had lightning strike the tree outside my bedroom window twice. As a lifeguard, I was always concerned when lightning storms approached. As a diver, I finally moved to SoCal 45 years ago where lightning is an extreme rarity (at least out here on "my" island). No thank you.
 
Glad it worked out ok. The safety margin I hear mentioned is the same as the one on my app. You want no lightning within 10 miles for 30 minutes. It can go horizontal several miles.
 
Crazy! We get lightning here in Florida all the time and just stay under waiting for the storm to pass. This typically only takes 10 minutes or so. We get so many storms that we'd never dive if we were scared off by storms.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
 
Check the electricals to the pool. It's possible that there was (is) a bad ground and the lightning didn't strike you directly, but struck close by and traveled through the pump, filter system, etc. into the pool and into you.

Glad you're ok. Get a full checkup.
 
Glad you're ok, Tony. I've also been hit twice. Both times while golfing. Both times with my brother. Wanna guess who I don't play golf with any more?

It's not usually what people think about, getting hit by a bolt of lightning. It's more that there is such a static charge in the air just looking for a way to ground itself, and then you provide that opportunity. But it can be just as deadly.
 
Crazy! We get lightning here in Florida all the time and just stay under waiting for the storm to pass. This typically only takes 10 minutes or so. We get so many storms that we'd never dive if we were scared off by storms.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

I agree and we had to bag some dives while we were caving a few weeks ago.

---------- Post added July 15th, 2014 at 11:44 AM ----------

That does make sense and I'll actually get the pool checked out. Check up is tomorrow.
Check the electricals to the pool. It's possible that there was (is) a bad ground and the lightning didn't strike you directly, but struck close by and traveled through the pump, filter system, etc. into the pool and into you.

Glad you're ok. Get a full checkup.


---------- Post added July 15th, 2014 at 11:46 AM ----------

Glad you're ok, Tony. I've also been hit twice. Both times while golfing. Both times with my brother. Wanna guess who I don't play golf with any more?

It's not usually what people think about, getting hit by a bolt of lightning. It's more that there is such a static charge in the air just looking for a way to ground itself, and then you provide that opportunity. But it can be just as deadly.

I am with you Ken and I thought that it happen while golfing which I do at lease once a week.
 

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