Lightning Strikes Florida Man Twice

[TexasStooge]

Lightning Strikes Florida Man Twice

SPRING HILL, Fla. (AP) - Emory Johnson can now talk about surviving a lightning strike not once, but twice. The second jolt was much worse for the Tarpon Springs construction worker.

Johnson was working on an air-conditioning system when rain started and he moved his tools inside at a four-unit villa being built near Spring Hill.

He stepped off a fiberglass ladder and onto the floor Wednesday as lightning hit a 50-foot pine tree outside. The bolt tore a swath of bark off the tree, moved across a pile of duct work and shot in a window.

"There was a loud bang, and it felt like I was burning inside, and I passed out," Johnson recalled. "When I woke up, I was shaking so bad I couldn't quit."

Hours after the jolt, his shoulders were sore, and "my whole body really feels like somebody beat me up." Still shaking, the 54-year-old joked, "If you want a milkshake, I can give you one. But it will only be half full."

His first lightning strike in 1986 happened as he sat in his truck at a Holiday intersection. The bolt burned the seats, fried the electrical system and left him tingling.

"I don't know if it's trying to follow me still or what," he said.