Offaly woman survives rare lightning strike
An Offaly woman had an extremely lucky escape after she was struck by lightning last Tuesday afternoon at her home in Crinkill, near Birr while making a cup of coffee.
The lightning bolt travelled through the kitchen sink and connected through Caroline Blake's coffee mug and spoon.
“I was making a cup of coffee because the electricity was going on and off. As I was putting the spoon down into the sink, sparks came out of it. There was a massive explosion in the kitchen and the smell of burning and the bang was so loud,” she recounted on Wednesday's News at One on RTE Radio 1.
She said the lightning strike sent her backwards on her feet. “I became a bit disorientated and didn't know what was happening but I could hear all this electricity.”
Luckily, Caroline's daughter arrived home and they went to see her doctor Gillian Lally, who then sent her to Tullamore Hospital to have a trace done on her heart as being struck by lightning could bring on a heart attack.
Since the lightning incident, Caroline, who works in Tesco in Birr, said she had a bad headache and sore eye with small burns on her wrist and stomach. “I had my runners on so I’d say that’s what saved me.”
"The doctor even told me that’s what would save you," Caroline said.
Following the rare incident on Tuesday, Caroline’s daughter alerted Rhode man Cathal Nolan from the Midlands Weather Channel of what happened to her mother to encourage others to be vigilant during these extreme weather conditions.
Cathal said that severe thunderstorms started to develop after around 1pm on Tuesday coming off the Slieve Bloom Mountains. “With that there was at times frequent lightning. There was reports of quite large hail and then as well as that reports of a small tornado in Banagher, so it really was an exceptional storm system to pass through the area.”
The Offaly man said that Caroline was beside a window and that the bolt of lightning that struck “kind of struck through the window. It’s obviously very unusual to be struck by lightning, (it’s) exceptionally unfortunate but it is a story that I have heard before.”
He added that in years gone he has heard reports of similar incidents and similar injuries but never heard of any fatalities from lightning strikes in the Midlands. “It’s typically rare that we get storms of such strength anyway but for someone to get struck it’s obviously rare.” Cathal also wished Caroline a speedy recovery following her terrifying ordeal and thanked “the quick thinking health professionals at the doctor’s surgery in Birr for their rapid treatment. Yesterday’s powerful storms are a reminder of the sheer force of natures,” he warned.
Caroline’s daughter said: “Lightning is a very powerful thing. It burnt through her shoes conducting out and it’s very hard to believe it came through the kitchen sink and unfortunately burnt her nerves internally.
“I am absolutely shocked myself, safe to say the Doctor’s surgery in Birr were brilliant taking her in and seeing her swiftly. It was their first case in the surgery of being hit by lightning. She’s very lucky to be alive. Also luckily for my mam her runners saved her big time with the rubber soles.”