How to Protect Yourself from Lightning Strikes

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Introduction

Lightning strikes are common especially during the rainy and stormy weather conditions. The strikes are fatal because they send electric shocks to the body leading to death or chronic injuries. Therefore, it is vital to put measures to ensure that your home is safe of lighting. It is also important to keep yourself secure when there are lightning to prevent the strikes.

How to prevent lightning strikes

  • Ensure that you are not in a high place such as summits, pinnacles or a place where there are taller trees.
  • If you are in the middle of an open field, you should move to a low lying area and stay in a lightning position.
  • In case you are on water, move away to the shore and move out of any depression or drainage that may have water flowing.

Lightning injuriesChecking for breathing

Electric currents from lightning can lead to thermal burns, muscle spasms, nerve and brain damage, breathing problems and make the heart to stop functioning. The level of seriousness of the injury depends on the duration of the current and the path through which it moves through the body. With side flash or direct strike, the current is usually large making the result fatal. On the other hand, ground currents are less powerful and the path of the currents makes a great difference. If the strike occurs while a person is lying down, the current enters the body through the arm and exit through the legs moving around the body organs including the heart. This makes the heart to stop functioning leading to death.  Other injuries resulting from lightning strikes include burns, ruptured eardrums and traumatic injuries because a direct strike can throw a person many feet through the air.

Recommended Treatment

Lightning strikes are fatal because they can cause the heart to stop beating leading to sudden death. The first thing you must do after a person has suffered a lightning strike is to provide CPR.  This is one of the few situations where a victim can be revived without providing advanced life support. Thus, you need to continue with CPR as long as possible. There are also electrical burns that can make the victim suffer from shock, thus making CPR an effective remedy. Any person struck by ground current or lightning should also be rescued or evacuated for more medical care to save life. Ensure that the emergency medical help is provided as fast as possible to prevent death.

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