My father called me yesterday from my parents' home in New Jersey. I could tell that he was very excited, and I soon found out why – just a short while before he called, he had been outside on their covered porch when lightning struck a big oak tree just 10 feet away!
He reports that chunks of smoking oak and a number of fried squirrels fell out of the sky all around him. His hair (he has a few tufts left) stood straight up, because he had acquired a high-voltage static electrical charge. He had no trouble hearing the sound; his normal hearing aids were unnecessary. I think he was still pumped up with adrenaline when he called..
I've been near lightning strokes several times in my life, but never as close as 10 feet – and that's one experience I'd be happy to never have! He was actually quite lucky that none of the current flowed through him or his clothing, as that could have badly injured or even killed him – ten feet is close enough that it could have jumped over to him if he was the path of low resistance. But he was dry, and standing on a dry wooden porch, while surrounded by wet (from the pouring rain) trees and ground, so the lightning naturally took other, lower resistance, paths to ground.
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