Well, strike me dead!
Have you ever heard of Emory Johnson? Neither did I until yesterday, but it seems that he's one unlucky bee-otch. I mean, just how lucky can you be when you get struck by lightning not once, but twice?
Yup, the Spring Hill resident has been zapped twice - and lived to tell the tale. The first time was in 1986, when his truck was hit. The bolt burned out the seats, fried the electrical system, and caused minor burns and tingling throughout his body. The second jolt occurred yesterday when Johnson was working on an air conditioning system. Funny thing is, Johnson went inside to get out of the rain and lightning storm.
Apparently the lightning bolt hit a tree next to the building, moved across a pile of metal ductwork, and shot through a window next to where Johnson was standing. The unlucky man was found by workers lying on the floor, muscles twitching, and stuttering incoherently. He was subsequently hospitalized and is doing just fine.
Johnson, like so many others in Florida, probably didn't know that the state holds the dubious distinction of leading the nation in lightning strikes per square mile. They seem to go hand-in-hand with our nation-leading number of tornadoes per square mile; both are spawned by our daily severe thunderstorms and microbursts during the rainy season. During the past five years, lightning in Florida has claimed:
48 deaths and 276 injuries; The most injuries in a month (June, 90) and on Thursdays; The most deaths in a month (August, 14) and on Saturdays. No casualties were reported in any January (the dry season), and most deaths occurred between 2 and 3 p.m. Did you know that men are more likely to be killed by lightning than women? Uh-huh, females rejoice.
We are told that the odds of getting struck by lightning in any given year is 900,000 to 1, but that the odds of getting struck by lightning in Florida in a lifetime are 12,000 to 1. Which just goes to prove that you should either move or save yourself a lot of grief by dying early.