Danger of thunderstorms: what lightning does to the body and how to protect yourself

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Danger of thunderstorms in Germany: ventricular fibrillation, burns: what lightning does to the body and how to protect yourself

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Dangerous thunderstorms with tornadoes, hail and lightning are forming in Germany this afternoon. What happens in the body when you are struck by lightning and how you can protect yourself.

First people moaned about the heat, now thunderstorms are threatening: The German Weather Service (DWD) warns of severe storms with heavy rain and tornadoes in Germany. In the south and southwest of the republic, there could be thunderstorm cells and hurricane gusts of up to 120 kilometers per hour. The DWD also expects hailstones of five to seven centimeters in size.

In some districts, the situation is already worsening: There have been storms in the Soest district, while elsewhere the gullies are full. Thunderstorms are dangerous precisely because of the lightning.

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Thunderstorms often injure people with lightning

In particular, the electrical discharges from lightning can injure people. “However, a lightning strike does not always have to cost one’s life, as was previously believed,” says Thomas Raphael, lightning protection expert from ABB (Committee for Lightning Protection and Lightning Research).

French researchers determined last year that there have been more than 200 lightning accidents in western Europe in the last 10 years. 81 people were killed and almost 970 injured, as reported by “Deutschlandfunk”. This year, people have already been injured by lightning in Germany.

“If the injured person is resuscitated immediately, his chances of survival are good,” says Thomas Raphael. Unlike an electrical accident, where the energy affects the body for a long time and the damage is therefore usually massive, the lightning effect only lasts a fraction of a second. Therefore, the chances of escaping with your life are high.

However, a lightning strike is not harmless. Permanent damage can occur or long-term consequences can occur after the initial symptom-freedom. Because high-voltage current is discharged in lightning – it can be up to 200,000 amperes. It can injure the body and the psyche. “The severity of the neuropsychological consequences in particular is often underestimated. They can even lead to disability,” says Thomas Raphael.

Lightning Strike: Direct or indirect contact with lightning

The consequences depend on how and where the lightning strikes the body. There are four options:

direct strike, flashover – the lightning strikes a nearby tree or mast and hits the person via this detour, contact voltage – the lightning has struck metal (e.g. mast), the person touches it and the lightning current also flows through it him, step voltage – the lightning strikes the ground and propagates through the earth and partially across the surface. The current can flow through the body from the ground via the feet. This is especially dangerous in the mountains. The stream spreads rapidly over the rock. Lightning expert Thomas Raphael remembers a tragic case: “When hiking on a narrow path, mountaineers leaned against the field during the thunderstorm so as not to give the lightning a target.” When the lightning struck 100 meters away from them, it spread its high energy reaches them, their bodies twitch and they fall into the abyss.

Of electricity marks and lightning figures on the skin

The skin burns where the current enters and exits. The so-called electricity brands are created. Then the current shoots through the whole body. If it hits the heart, for example, it can cause ventricular fibrillation and death in the worst case. “However, this danger only exists if the lightning strikes in the second in which the heart is in the vulnerable phase, i.e. it receives the natural, endogenous electrical impulse for the next beat,” says lightning expert Thomas Raphael. What ultimately happens under the influence of the overvoltage has not yet been researched.

In addition, so-called flash figures can also occur. These are branched, dark marks on the skin and on objects, similar to gunshot residue. Lightning leaves them when its energy does not enter the body, but goes around it (sliding transference).

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What lightning does to the body and psyche

The high voltage affects the body thermally (burns) and electrically. But natural, electrical impulses clock all nerve and muscle activities in the body. This is how you can imagine what damage lightning current can cause: from cardiac arrest and unconsciousness, eye and ear injuries to paralysis (lightning paralysis = keraunoparalysis) and brain damage, confusion to shock, trauma, anxiety disorders and depression.

There are also rarer consequences, as lightning expert Thomas Raphael reports: “While playing football, a man was struck in the leg by lightning. He was fine for the time being. Some time later he had serious leg problems and was taken to the hospital.” It turned out that some of the blood vessels were sealed.

All lightning injuries have one thing in common: the person affected cannot remember the impact itself, his memory only recovers after a few seconds at the earliest.

First aid for lightning accidents and thunderstorms

“In principle, the emergency doctor should be alerted whenever there is contact with lightning,” recommends lightning expert Thomas Raphael. So dial 112 immediately, even if there are no injuries at first glance. And: It is absolutely harmless to touch the victim of the lightning.

Until the rescue service arrives, the familiar first-aid rules apply: check consciousness (shake your shoulder gently and ask out loud if everything is okay), calm down, position yourself appropriately, treat the wound if necessary, open the airways and perform cardiac massages. Depending on the injury, the lightning victim is then treated in the clinic.

“By the way, every lightning victim is first connected to an ECG in the hospital, even if they appear to be unharmed,” says Thomas Raphael. If the findings are unremarkable and there are no other signs of damage, the patient can go home.

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For now, forget everything you’ve heard about how to behave during a thunderstorm. “Mobile phones, umbrellas, bicycles and golf clubs do not increase the likelihood of being struck by lightning,” says lightning expert Thomas Raphael. However, if the lightning has decided to target you, so to speak, it will strike into these items. So for example in the umbrella, and shoot it over the hand in the arm and in the heart.

The basic rules for the best protection against lightning strikes:

Go to protected areas – house, car, cabins of construction machinery, etc. If this is not possible: put your legs close together, squat down and duck your head – it is best to choose a hollow for this. Maintain a safety distance of at least one meter from posts, fences and railings. Never seek shelter under trees. If you do that, you risk being struck by lightning. Therefore keep a distance of ten meters to trees and branches. If you are in a group, you should not stand close together, but keep a distance of at least three meters from the next person.

(with material from the VDE Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies, ABB Committee for Lightning Protection and Lightning Research)