By Amanda Schmidt, AccuWeather staff writer
The chances of being struck by lightning in your lifetime are slim to none, about one in 15,300. On Tuesday, three people were struck by lightning in the Honolulu area, Hawaii, as severe thunderstorms moved over the islands.
A 10-year-old boy, Neziah Ki-lusi, is among the three lightning victims. He was struck by lightning while riding in the back of a pickup truck with his father in Kalihi, Hawaii, Hawaii News Nowreports. The lightning hit the front of the truck and a transformer around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, local authorities said.
Neziah described the event as “really painful,” saying he felt severe pain on the right side of his body. The injuries that he suffered are visible on his right ear, arm and neck.
“I thought the worst, as a parent, I thought the worst, but you know, it’s a miracle,” said the lightning survivor’s mother, Crystal Lusi, on KHON2 News. The meaning of the name of the boy’s name. Neziah, means “conqueror, strong,” which is exemplified in this terrible incident .
Neziah is now recovering after being released from the hospital the following day.
“I feel really lucky that I’m still alive,” Neziah said in an interview with KHON2 News. “I would have died if I was electrocuted by the lightning.”
Lightning strikes obviously have the capacity to kill, and were responsible for 3,696 recorded deaths in the United States between 1959 and 2003. A person lucky enough to walk away alive from a lightning strike can suffer long-lasting effects like cardiac arrest and nerve damage.
Lightning injuries can be fatal with a mortality rate of about 10%. And the majority of victims will have some form of
“It’s extremely rare to be walking away from it,” his mother said tearful. “Everybody said count your blessings, count your blessings.”
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The other two victims were struck on the tarmac at the airport in Honolulu, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Honolulu. A Hawaii Transportation Department spokesman told Hawaii News Now that the two airport employees were outside on the tarmac when a plane was struck by lightning.
The two victims were both men, one an American Airlines caterer and the other a cargo handler. The men complained of injuries to their left arm and were hospitalized in serious condition.
Following the incidents, Honolulu officials issued a statement to warn the public about lightning strike hazards. They urge resident to get and stay indoors during thunderstorms to reduce the risk of lightning injury.
“There is little you can do to substantially reduce your risk if you are outside in a thunderstorm,” the statement reads. “The only completely safe action is to get inside a safe building or vehicle.”
In Hawaii, a person is more likely to be attacked by a shark than to be struck by lightning, according to the International Shark Attack File. Statistics show that between 1959 and 2010, there were no lightning fatalities and 97 shark attacks reported in Hawaii.
Hawaii only sees lightning about eight days out of the year and rarely in June. NWS Meteorologist Derek Wroe told Hawaii News Now that Oahu, Hawaii, saw about 70 lightning strikes an hour during the height of the storm.
Between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tuesday night, there were 225 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, NWS told KHON2 News.
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