Caught on cam: Lightning strikes man, shoes blown off and clothes charred
Employees from the nearby veterinary hospital rushed outside to help.
Alex Coreas is recovering in hospital after he was struck by lightning while walking his dogs at the Meyer Park Dog Park in Spring, Texas. The lightning strike lit some of his clothes on fire and knocked his socks and shoes off of his feet.
Coreas and his dogs started to leave the park when he noticed that a storm was quickly moving in. Surveillance cameras from the nearby veterinary hospital captured the moment Coreas was struck by lightning as he was walking his dog out of the park.
Corey Hart told Storyful that he was sitting in his car waiting to pick up his daughter, an employee at the veterinary hospital, when he heard the “incredibly loud sound” of lightning and a bright flash.
He then spotted Coreas lying on the ground and then flagged down Bill Wilson, a technician at the hospital, who immediately started performing CPR on the man after finding that he was not moving or breathing.
Coreas was flown to a nearby hospital where he is recovering. His family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for his hospital bills and recovery.
He sustained serious injuries from the lightning strike, including fractured ribs, a fractured temporal bone, and a swollen eye. He is currently being monitored by a cardiologist.
His dogs were later found by deputies in a nearby wooded area.
A bolt of lightning can heat surrounding air to nearly 27,800°C which is five times hotter than the surface of the Sun. The U.S. National Weather Service states that approximately 10 per cent of people who are struck by lightning are killed and is a major cause of storm-related deaths.
