Woman in Florida films moment lightning strikes vehicle in front of her
A woman records the moment a vehicle was struck by lightning in Tampa Bay, Florida, on Friday, July 1. She was traveling with her husband and children when the lightning struck. (Credit: Michaelle May Whalen via Storyful)
It was a shocking moment, to say the least.
Michaelle May Whalen was riding through the Tampa Bay area July 1 on her way home to Indiana when the car she was in entered a lightning storm.
Whelan and her family were driving home to Indiana from Florida when the incident ocurred. (Michaelle May Whalen via Storyful)
She pulled out her phone camera to film it, using the slow motion video setting to capture the strikes, just before one hit the pickup in front of her carrying her husband, Edward, and three children.
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The bolt can be seen making four quick hits as the Ram pickup drives through it and dissipates just in front of Whelan's car.
She captured the moment the lighting struck her husband's Ram pickup on video. (Michaelle May Whalen via Storyful)
She told Fox 13 that her husband and everyone in the vehicle were fine.
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"He had to actually come back to me and hug me and let me know that, ‘Yes, I’m OK, yes, the kids are OK.'" Unfortunately, the brand-new truck was "completely fried."
The new Ram Pickup was "completely fried." (Michaelle May Whalen via Storyful)
"I've always wanted a Dodge Ram since I was a little kid," Whalen said. "And I finally was able to get one. And I just made my third car payment and – bam."
While the chances of getting struck by lightning are less than one in a million, several hundred people are hit each year, with Florida is one of the most common places it happens, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The inside of a hardtop vehicle is one of the safest places anyone can be.
The rubber tires do not insulate it, but the metal body acts like a Faraday cage that directs the charge around the outside of the body to the ground. In fact, the steel belts inside the tires can heat up and cause them to explode as the electricity passes through them. Electrical systems can also be damaged, and the defroster wires in the windows may cause them to shatter from the intense heat.
Faraday cages are commonly used in demonstrations at science museums. (SERGEI GAPON/AFP via Getty Images)
It is important to keep the windows closed, to try not to touch any metal surfaces or controls and to stay entirely inside the vehicle. If anyone is touching the ground, the lightning might find its way through them.
However, convertibles do not offer the same protection. The CDC recommends that anyone caught outside in a storm should seek shelter indoors, or even under a cliff or rocky outcrop.
If none is available, it is best to find the lowest ground possible away from water and crouch, not lie down. Avoid trees, wire fences, power lines, windmills, or anything that can conduct electricity regardless of where hunkered down, and if in a group of people, separate to reduce the number of injuries that might occur.
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As far as vehicles are concerned, Progressive insurance says it will only be covered if drivers have a comprehensive policy, as a lightning strike is considered an act of nature and not a collision.