Threat of lightning often not realized

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Lightning has killed one person in Kansas this year and injured at least two others.

Still, weather officials say, people don't take lightning seriously enough.

Chance Hayes, a warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Wichita, said it's difficult for people to perceive the threat of lightning because they don't see how it can be a harm to them.

"It's almost like people turn a blind eye to lightning," Hayes said. "They have a very casual approach to lightning."

A study of lightning injuries and fatalities between 1959 and 1994 showed Kansas as ranking 25th for fatalities with 56 deaths. However, the state was second in lightning damage reports with 1,182.

Hayes said many lightning victims are struck before or after the peak of a storm, not realizing that the threat still lingers.

The one lightning-related death so far this year in Kansas happened April 25 when a Lawrence man was stuck riding his motorcycle in stormy weather. Troy Gentzler, 45, was hit in the head as he rode on U.S. 24 between Perry and Grantville in northeast Kansas.

Gentzler died at the scene. Another motorcyclist in his group who was near him was injured when the bolt struck.

In another incident on May 15, officials said an El Dorado man might have been struck by lightning. He was not hospitalized. Butler County Emergency Medical Services Director Grant Helferich said the man reported seeing a lightning bolt, then "feeling funny," but could not remember being struck.

Kansas had one lightning-related death last year. Nathan Sullivan, 20, died after being hit during a Memorial Day weekend camping trip at Pomona Lake State Park, south of Topeka. He was standing beneath a tree in the early morning hours when a lightning bolt from a thunderstorm struck the tree. The bolt's charge passed through the tree, into the ground and hit him.

Sullivan's camping mates, who ran to their vehicles for safety, didn't realize he had been hit until daylight.

Lightning injuries can vary, said Mary Ann Cooper, a veteran lightning injury researcher and a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. They range from "a little 'zip' and nothing after that, all the way to cardiac arrest," she said.

Many lightning strike victims can be revived if CPR or a defibrillator is applied soon enough, Cooper said. But, she said, a victim's chances of recovering are hampered when treatment is delayed.

It doesn't have to be raining for lightning to occur, she said.

"Lightning can travel as far as 10 or 15 miles from a storm," Cooper said. "Out front, out back, it doesn't matter. There's often blue sky present during lightning."

People should stay indoors when a thunderstorm is in the area, Cooper said.

But, weather officials warn, being indoors isn't enough. They said people should watch their activities inside and not play video games, talk on a telephone land line, shower or swim.

In 2004, a 16-year-old Harper County girl was hospitalized after being shocked by the current from a lightning strike while showering at home.

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Information from: The Wichita Eagle, http://www.kansas.com