Beware of Lightning!

A few times during my youth, my family traveled from Ohio to Hartford, Connecticut to see relatives. The visits weren’t particularly memorable-except one. An ongoing heatwave brought my cousins, my brother Mike and me, and a multitude of others to the city’s Goodwin Park pool. I couldn’t have been a happier seven-year-old.

Well, for at least five minutes.

The sun had turned the pool into a shimmering sheet of glitter with floating heads, torpedoing bodies, and shrieking kids. I jumped into the shallow end to escape the sweltering heat.

Without warning, a powerful blast of wind blew in a wall of black cumulonimbus clouds. Pelting rain burst from the sky. Limbs ripped off trees. A clap of thunder boomed as a lightning bolt crackled and shattered the air. The earth shook. Over the chaos, I barely heard a frantic announcement to “get out of the water!”

“I command you: be strong and steadfast! Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 NAB)

Like a child of Israel fleeing from the Egyptians through the Red Sea, I joined the mass exodus. My older cousins and brother had vanished. Near the pool, a tall tree-its branches swaying and twisting in the wind-hovered over the bodies of three men. Two were lying close together on the ground and the other not far from them.

I thought they were all dead.

The pool staff ran to their aid. Firemen seemed to magically appear and put oxygen masks over the victims’ mouths. I turned away to look for my cousins and brother. When I found them, they were bug-eyed as if they’d seen a horror movie.

According to local news reports, the victims were golfers who took refuge from the storm under a tree near the pool. The heart of one stopped beating after a lightning bolt-the one that shook the earth-struck him. Attempts to save his life failed. The man next to him ended up on the critical list. The third man, who stood apart from them, escaped major injuries.

  • Water is an exceptional conductor of electricity. Being outside near it, or in it, during a thunderstorm will boost your odds of going to be with the Lord.
  • Our bodies are about 60 percent water, so we’re terrific lightning rods. If you’re caught in a thunderstorm, a bullseye is on your head.
  • Trees, porches, pavilions, tents, umbrellas, or other open shelters won’t protect you from lightning any more than a hat. Look for enclosed grounded structures.

A few years ago, when my cousin, Elisa, and I were discussing this tragic event, she told me, “I couldn’t believe how calm and in control you were. I was impressed!” Maybe if I’d been traumatized, I would’ve been more cautious during thunderstorms throughout the years that followed.

As a careless young adult-bored and alone at my brother’s house during a storm-I turned on his television. Not just any television-a Heathkit in a handsome wooden cabinet that he’d painstakingly built by hand. A loud KABOOM preceded a blue blaze that flashed across the room in front of me. The television sizzled like pork bacon in a hot iron skillet.

  • Lightning can travel into your home via plumbing and electrical circuits. Don’t do harebrained things like use plugged-in devices or take showers.
  • Lightning can jump through windows and doors and go through the ground to concrete walls and basement floors. Steer clear! You’re not Lazarus.

After I married and had children, caution curbed my carefree attitude. When one of my sons had to deliver newspapers before a fast-approaching storm, I drove him to his route. As dark menacing thunderheads rolled in, we were hand-carrying papers to homes on opposite sides of a circular road that led back to the car.

A tornado siren wailed over the gusting wind as rumbling thunder rattled mailboxes. Down from the cloud base, a funnel began a slow pirouette.

“The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.” (Psalm 77:18 NRSV)

“Run, run, run!” I shouted at my cool, calm, and collected son who poked along tucking each tightly wrapped paper burrito into a safe spot. Apparently, he got the chill gene I had in my youth before I knew any better. We made it back to the car just before a violent cloudburst. Tornadoes threatened to form but didn’t touch down.

  • Immediately seek shelter during a tornado warning. You may only have a few minutes to make it right with your Maker.
  • A hard-topped car is a safe haven because lightning prefers to zip through a canopy of metal instead of a human water balloon. Metal trumps water.

Six years ago, when my husband, Michael, and I decided to hike on a nearby bike trail, he diligently checked the weather. The only time he doesn’t check the weather is when he’s sleeping-that’s when he just dreams about checking the weather.

“It’s not supposed to rain till 9:00 tonight,” he said. “It’s only 6:00. There’s plenty of time for a quick hike.”

So we walked for a mile and a quarter before we saw lightning zigzagging through a bank of black clouds barreling toward us like hungry feral hogs searching for prey. We were in an open field-two gloriously prominent lightning rods.

“Shafts of lightning will fly with true aim, and will leap from the clouds to the target….” (The Wisdom of Solomon 5:21 NRSV)

“They said it wouldn’t storm until 9:00!” Michael shouted. “We’re not going to be able to outrun this!”

We can run?

Thunder boomed as lightning pierced through sheets of gusting rain. Just before we reached the car, the apocalypse passed and the sun peeked out. We were panting like mangy rabid dogs when a rainbow appeared. Michael pulled out his camera from under his shirt to take a picture.

“Behold the rainbow! Then bless its Maker, for majestic indeed is its splendor;” (Wisdom of Ben Sira 43:11 NAB)

And then-KABOOM!

Out of the silence of a spent storm-the ear-shattering crackle of a lightning bolt split the air. It sounded like the earth’s fabric tore.

Michael chirped, “I almost got a picture of that!” If the strike were closer, the camera would’ve welded to his face.

  • Check the forecast before going out. However, storms are hard to predict and their paths often change. If so, pray for an adrenaline rush to sprint to safety.
  • Even when the weather clears, lightning can strike quite a distance from a storm. Wait 30 minutes after the last thunder to be sure the angels are done bowling.
  • The most dangerous place during a thunderstorm is outside in an open space. If no safe shelter is available, get into the lightning crouch to reduce your size as a target and minimize your contact with the ground. Squat on the balls of your feet (feet together), cover your ears with your hands, and tuck your head down.

Recently, on a nice balmy day, Michael and I decided to go on a bike ride around the neighborhood. As usual, he checked the weather forecast, the barometric pressure, the cloud patterns, the wind direction, animal and plant behavior-ants crawling up the wall. I looked out the window.

“The rain should hold off till we get back,” Michael said. I nodded. I didn’t mind getting wet.

But when we were a mile from home, it didn’t just rain-it stormed!

Michael took off-never looking back-with plans to open the garage door so I could zoom in. Like a wild woman, I splashed through the streets and raced around curves with harpoons of lightning hot on my heels. As an option, I could’ve dropped my bike and figured out where to die.

  • If you’re caught in a storm on a bike, you can choose to abandon it, squat low in a waterless ditch, and accept your fate as a rat snack.
  • Whether on a bike or on foot, keep moving toward a safe shelter. The last resort is the lightning crouch-but good luck staying balanced on your toes!

“For over all, his glory will be shelter and protection: shade from the parching heat of day, refuge and cover from storm and rain.” (Isaiah 4:6 NAB)

Whenever there’s a heatwave, like the one I experienced as a seven-year-old, there’s a chance of a storm. If you’re not in a safe structure, find one. If you hear cumulonimbus clouds grumbling, don’t go near water. Don’t shower, use electronics, ignore tornado sirens, hike, or bike. Being unaware or careless can be fatal.

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