While France is hit by huge storms, we explain to you what the dangers of lightning are.
- Lightning is an electrical discharge that forms inside a storm cloud, between two clouds or between a cloud and the ground, causing a flash and a detonation.
- On June 22, in the space of 24 hours, the department of Nièvre was struck nearly 4,000 times by lightning.
If lightning fascinates more than it frightens, it nevertheless represents a real danger for man. Each year in France, it affects between 200 and 300 people, and kills nearly 30, almost as many as avalanches.
Since 2000, 435,000 lightning strikes on the ground and 260 days of thunderstorms have been recorded each year, according to Meteo France. The summer months, the stormiest of the year and during which people enjoy the outdoors the most, are unsurprisingly the season during which there are the most accidents, generally in the countryside and in the mountains, but also sometimes at sea or on bodies of water.
Heavy consequences
If lightning strikes directly on or near a person, there are several possibilities. Either it kills her instantly by causing cardiac arrest. Either it generates sequelae, such as skin injuries (burns), ENT lesions (rupture of the eardrums caused by the blast of lightning, partial deafness, etc.), ocular (cornea burns) or even neurological (paralysis of the limbs , amnesia, post-traumatic stress…). Either, for the lucky ones, it causes no trouble: some people struck by lightning do not even realize that they have just been struck down. Anyone affected by lightning, however, has an interest in going to the emergency room.
It should be noted that lightning does not necessarily fall directly on the person: the lightning strike can be by touch voltage (the person touches a metal object which has just been struck by lightning), by step voltage (the person has their feet on the contact with the ground just struck by lightning) or by lateral lightning (the person is for example under a tent which has just been struck).
PLS
If you witness a lightning strike, you can act, according to the French firefighters or even theLightning Protection Association. It may be counter-intuitive, but you can safely hit the blasted person. If she is unconscious but breathing, place her in recovery position. If she is not breathing, give her cardiac massage, without interruption, while waiting for the help you have called beforehand.
