A bolt from the blue! Here's what REALLY happens to someone when lightning strikes and the victim lives to tell the tale

Lightning is among the dazzling forces of nature, which is beautiful yet terrifying and can strike out of nowhere and change lives in an instant. Most of us have seen lightning storms from the safety of our homes, but for some, a bolt from the blue becomes a life-changing event.These strikes carry millions of volts and can kill or permanently injure in fractions of a second. Yet, around 90% of those struck survive, often left battling lifelong physical and psychological scars. Experts like Dr. Blumenthal and Dr. Mary Ann Cooper are working hard to raise awareness about lightning safety and the lasting impacts on survivors and shared their experience with Live Science.

What happens when lightning strikes a human being?

When lightning hits a human, the results can be instant and devastating.

The majority of fatalities are caused by immediate cardiac arrest as the massive electrical voltage disrupts the heart’s rhythm. According to Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, a lightning safety specialist and emerita professor of emergency medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, “Most people who die from lightning strikes are killed instantly by cardiac arrest.

”But not everyone dies. In fact, about 90% of people survive a lightning strike, according to the National Weather Service. Survivors often report hearing a loud boom, a blinding flash, and then waking up disoriented, with burns, numbness, or strange red fern-like marks, which are known as Lichtenberg figures. These figures are painless and typically fade within a few days, as shown in a 2020 case report published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Lightning strikes have threatening after effects

While many survivors walk away alive, the aftereffects are long-lasting. Nerve damage, memory loss, chronic pain, PTSD, and depression are common. Some even report unusual sensations or "psychic abilities" like precognition. “Once you get struck by lightning, you're not the same person,” said Dr. Ryan Blumenthal, a forensic pathologist at the University of Pretoria, in an interview with Live Science.Ryan also explained that direct lightning hits are rare, making up only 3% to 5% of cases.

More often, injuries come from side flashes, ground currents, or contact injuries. “This is why whole herds of animals get wiped out by lightning,” he said. Another rare form is the upward streamer, where a person’s body becomes part of the electrical path without the lightning ever fully hitting them.

The person who got struck by lightning seven times and still survived!

The world record for lightning injuries belongs to Roy Sullivan, a park ranger who survived seven lightning strikes between 1942 and 1977.

Despite surviving each one, he later died by suicide, according to the Guinness World Records.Organisations like the National Lightning Safety Council and ACLENet (African Centers for Lightning and Electromagnetics Network), founded by Cooper and Blumenthal, aim to reduce deaths worldwide, especially in storm-prone areas like Africa.

How does lightning occur

Lightning happens when tiny bits of ice bump into each other inside a storm cloud, creating static electricity. Over time, the cloud builds up a big charge. When that charge becomes too strong, it needs to release it, so it sends a bolt of electricity down to the ground or to another cloud. That flash of electricity is what is seen as lightning. It happens really fast and is super powerful!