Lucky arborist survives lightning strike
Alex Watterson became one of the lucky ones this week.
The 18-year-old was pruning trees in Devon on Wednesday when a tree close to where he was standing was struck by lightning.
The bolt of electricity went through the log he was holding and travelled through both of his legs.
Though he only remembers the first minute after he was struck, he immediately knew what had happened. “All I thought was, ‘Oh crap, I just got struck by lightning.’ ”
He could see his boots burning, but said he couldn’t feel anything.
“I tried taking a step forward and I fell to the ground. I couldn’t move anything from the waist down.”
Watterson’s co-worker, who was up in a tree working in a bucket, felt a tingle from the lightning but was not seriously injured. The rest of the crew didn’t immediately realize Watterson had been hurt.
“They thought I dove to the ground to avoid it,” he said. “But they noticed pretty quickly that wasn’t the case.”
Watterson was taken to the hospital and treated for burns, and also had to have his kidneys flushed because there was tissue in his blood.
Miraculously, just 12 hours after being admitted, he limped out the front doors of the hospital.
Even the large red mark on his right leg — in a shape reminiscent of a lightning bolt — had disappeared by Thursday.
Doctors told Watterson if he hadn’t been wearing protective earmuffs at the time his ear drums would have been blown out and he would have been deaf.
Watterson, originally from Prince Edward Island, said his family was stunned when he called to tell them he’d been struck by lightning.
“I’m not sure if they believed me at the time,” he said. “But once I sent them a picture, they understood what had happened.”
According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, the odds of getting struck by lightning are less than one in a million.
Each year in Canada, between 100 and 150 people survive being struck by lightning.
Watterson considers himself lucky to be able to walk away relatively unharmed.
“I’m a little bit sore, but I’m OK,” he said Friday. “I can still walk, so I’m happy.”