Lightning Injures Two at Pack Family Camping Trip (TN)

[RememberSchiff]

A sudden thunderstorm hit the Balsam Mountain Campground in the the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As the pack leaders and parents were getting children to safety, lightning struck two vehicles with four people inside. Those inside the vehicles were uninjured, but two adults who were standing outside the vehicles were knocked to the ground.  They were about a foot away from the blast crater, which was about 3-feet deep.

The other parents on the camping trip rendered first aid to the victims, got the children into a secure location, and transported the two victims to Haywood Regional Medical Center.  One with serious injuries was transferred to Mission Hospital, where he is in stable condition. Both are expected to recover.

No scouts were injured.

More details at sources:

https://www.themountaineer.com/news/two-struck-by-lightning-off-blue-ridge-parkway/article_074ce68e-95bb-11e9-9560-a70be4e72d05.html

https://www.cbs17.com/news/north-carolina-news/nc-judge-among-pair-hospitalized-after-lightning-strike-along-blue-ridge-parkway/

Edited June 24, 2019 by RememberSchiff

[RememberSchiff]

Update June 26, 2019:

...Eight-year-old scout Alex Ostendorff recalled seeing the lightning from his parents’ vehicle.

“When the lighting struck, it was more like an explosion than a bolt … and then there was a lot of steam,” he said. “It looked like a bomb went off.”

“After it struck, it kind of put our car up on two wheels,” he added.

Although Alex said he thinks he may camp again, he doesn’t want to go back to Balsam Mountain Campground.

“It scared me very much,” he said. “I cried I was so scared.”

“After that, when I went home, I couldn’t get the vision out of my head, and it was really scary,” he added.

Dave Crowder and Cubmaster Blair Bishop were in Bishop’s truck when the lightning struck. Crowder, a Marine Corps veteran, said the sound and the flash of light was akin to a mortar round exploding. Bishop agreed, adding that it arced overtop of the truck.

“The frame is bent where the lightning hit my truck … and the tires were melted in places,” he said. “It appeared that it blew the asphalt out of the ground.”

Likewise, Crowder saw the sheer power of the bolt another way.

“Her umbrella, part of it was just vaporized,” he said of the mother who was injured.

Once Crowder noticed Wijewickrama and the mother had been hit, his instincts kicked in, and once he saw the mother come to her feet under her own power, he applied first aid to Wijewickrama.

“I went to check Roy’s pulse, and his jacket was wrapped around his neck so I cut that off,” he said. “He started talking, so obviously he was breathing. Then we got him up on his feet.”

Wijewickrama was reaching for his truck’s door when the lightning struck. Had he been in contact with the truck, he likely wouldn’t have survived the incident.

Cell reception in the remote Heintooga area is spotty, so it was quicker for cub scout parents to evacuate the victims themselves than call an ambulance and wait for it to get there.

Within minutes, Bishop was driving Wijewickrama to the Haywood Regional Medical Center in Crowder’s truck, and not long after, Crowder used his wife’s car to take the injured mother and members of Wijewickrama’s family to the hospital, as well.

Once he had cell reception, Crowder called the hospital to let them know they would be receiving two victims injured in the lightning strike. Wijewickrama was transferred to Mission Hospital, where he is still being held.

Both are expected to recover.

More at source:

https://www.themountaineer.com/news/witnesses-recall-horrific-lightning-strike-incident/article_44c1c2f2-9744-11e9-ba25-dbeb0b53356e.html

[mrkstvns]

On 6/30/2019 at 6:46 AM, RememberSchiff said:

Update June 26, 2019:

...Eight-year-old scout Alex Ostendorff recalled seeing the lightning from his parents’ vehicle.

“When the lighting struck, it was more like an explosion than a bolt … and then there was a lot of steam,” he said. “It looked like a bomb went off.”

“After it struck, it kind of put our car up on two wheels,” he added.

Although Alex said he thinks he may camp again, he doesn’t want to go back to Balsam Mountain Campground.

“It scared me very much,” he said. “I cried I was so scared.”

Well Alex, haven't you heard the old saying "Lightning never strikes twice in the same place"?   If you believe that, then that Balsam Mountain camp should be safe for you.

Or maybe you're already aware that the truth is that lightning tends to strike the same place. We know that lightning is attracted to the tallest objects in an area and that it seeks out an effective path to ground.  If a place got struck once because it was the highest and/or most conductive place in an area, then it's a pretty safe bet that it might get struck again.

In New York, the Empire State Building gets struck regularly --- as often as 100 times per year.  It seems that big metal roof high atop one of the highest points in the city is an irresistable magnet for lightning strikes. Sometimes, the building gets truck multiple times in a single storm!  

I'm with Alex. I do not want to go back to a place that's been struck by lightning....because lightning always strikes twice in the same place!

 

Source:  How Stuff Works  (https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/storms/10-lightning-myths1.htm)

[WolfDenRulz]

Scary!

Could we build a lightning tower in that area?