Woman Captures Lightning Striking Her Husband's Truck in Tampa Bay

A woman recorded the moment a vehicle was struck by lightning in Tampa Bay, Florida, on Friday, July 1.

[wardrobelion]

Wow! Amazing footage! Being a Floridian, I’ve seen lightning strikes very close too many times to count, but never have I see it actually hit something. Thanks for sharing this video and I’m glad everyone is okay.👍🙏

[dawnkeener]

Damn I want to see the damage done to the truck.

[JillianHadley]

Ok, I did the googling. Everyone is fine.

“Friday, July 1. Michaelle May Whalen, who filmed the footage, told Storyful that her husband and three children were traveling in the vehicle in front of her when it was hit by the lightning strike. Whalen said everyone in the vehicle was uninjured. However, the truck was “completely fried" by the lightning strike, she said. Whalen said her family were on their way home from a vacation when she noticed lightning and began filming.“ It started to storm and I thought the lightning was neat, so I was trying to snap a picture of the lightning and missed every time, ” Whalen said. “So my son-in-law suggested I slow-motion video record, and that’s when I captured the event on camera. “The National Weather Service issued a weather warning in Tampa Bay on July 1, warning of flash flooding. Credit: Michaelle May Whalen via Storyful”

[JustAGrrrrl]

How many people can say they drove through a lightning strike 😳

[IansRcFun]

the most remarkable thing about this video is the amazing amount of garbage in the floorboard. people live like this?

[thegriffin]

As a Floridian I once had to get up at 3:00 in the morning during a school night because a thunderstorm and a tornado was heading our way we had to rush to the storm shelter and they still made us go to class after the storm was over. In Florida it is either really hot and sunny or super stormy.

[ChiliCheeseDg]

Why is there microwave popcorn on the floor? Clean the inside of your car.

[lilice]

Well this is why Florida is the lightning capital of the United States.

[wendelh]

Damn, they named their hockey team appropriately 😂
That’s some Tampa Bay Lightning right there

[attilazk]

OMG that dirt in that footwell area... gosh...

[GodBlessedAmerica]

That’s gonna leave a mark. Hope your husband is ok.

[MeMe-dgrv]

I had to look this up. Thank goodness, no one was injured in the truck. The vehicle was completely fried!

[briann]

"Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice." I hope someone checked that spot for underground alien fighting machines.

[chrisclark]

That's how Florida says hello. When I was a child I was at my friends house and a bolt of lightning struck a bag of golf clubs my friends dad had in there attic right through the roof. All of a sudden its like you have the brightest flashlight ever shining directly into your eyeball and sounds like artillery is striking. Clubs were trashed house partially burnt down. One of those great growing up in Florida memories.

[hctz]

Happy that everyone is okay, but I have a very healthy respect for Lightning as I do for all of Mother Nature.

[briano]

It is simply amazing to see lightning so close so safely.

I am glad everyone is okay. That is some amazing footage!

I have been close to lightning before but not that close. One time, after my family shopped at the old Billy Ferry Winn-Dixie in Clair Mel (well after the rebuild but still in the original location which has since been moved across the street probably decades ago), we had just gotten back into our van during a storm and lightning hit one of the metal light poles not in the parking lot not far from where we were parked. That experience was crazy but nothing like this.

[possums]

Why aren't you posting if the guy was ok or not - or what happened later????

[JC-yepj]

Amazing phenomenon, notice how the ground strike occurs before the actual flash? Then the actual bolt appears to flash on and off three times?

[traildoggy]

It's crazy the way you can still see it burning into the ground even after the truck is past it.

[WednesdayMarieAddams]

She drove right through the plasma! That is amazing 👏 🙌