The victim was approachable the whole time, but was nevertheless taken to hospital for a check-up, says board member Benjamin Savci after reporting in various Overijssel media.
“At first he said he didn’t feel his legs anymore. But a little later he did,” says Savci. He does not know whether the affected player should remain in the hospital. “I did speak to his brother, who says it is going well. I also offered help to the family.”
Light pole hit
When lightning struck, several teams were training. Both Victoria and FC Aramea train on the football field. The board member was standing on the side of the field watching the training when around 8.30 pm lightning struck a light pole and it became dark instantly.
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“At first I thought it was fireworks. The boys ran off the field in panic with the affected player. We immediately gave first aid, checked whether he was approachable and placed him in the recovery position.” The man was taken away by ambulance.
Short circuit
According to Savci, the impact had caused a short circuit. When the earth leakage circuit breaker was then turned on, the lighting worked again. He plans to organize a meeting tomorrow evening especially for the youth players, who are very shocked by what they have seen happen. “They can lose their eggs there. They are still big now.”
In addition to the man who had to go to hospital, several people suffered from headaches, muscle pain and tingling in the legs, writes RTV East.
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That’s because the lightning went in all directions after hitting the light pole through the ground, says Brian Verhoeven of Buienradar. “If you are standing on a football field, you can feel that. Then you have been indirectly struck by lightning. The charge is therefore a lot weaker. So they were lucky with that.”
That lightning was a positive lightning strike of roughly 200,000 amperes strong, says Verhoeven. “In about 95 percent of the cases it is negative lightning, in 5 percent it is positive. This strike was 20 times stronger than an average negative lightning strike.”
Powerful charge
Whether lightning is positive or negative has to do with where lightning comes from a thunderstorm. “A thunderstorm is kilometers high. Within that cloud you have areas with different types of charge. In the middle the charge is negative, at the top positive.”
If the lightning comes from the positively charged part, then the lightning has to travel a much longer distance to reach the earth. “That makes it more difficult for the cloud to discharge and so it is less common.” But when it happens, lightning carries a very powerful charge, explains Verhoeven.
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“The higher the lightning is, the more energy is needed for lightning to strike, because the lightning has to travel a longer way. If that positively charged lightning still comes out of the cloud, there is also a lot of energy in it to increase the resistance of the lightning. air. With that extra energy, it can really sound like an explosion or bomb going off. You can hear that tens of miles away.”
Such a positively charged lightning strike is much more dangerous than a negative lightning strike, says Verhoeven. “Negative is rather survivable, positive in some cases not. Then you can really speak of luck. Then you have a ticket from the lottery.”
Hair on end
Positive lightning also often strikes at a place that is further away from the storm. There is little or no rain and you hardly hear any thunder beforehand. “That’s where the phrase “clash from the blue” comes from.
Yet some people sometimes feel it coming. “You sometimes hear people say that their hair stood on end. That is sometimes an omen, then you have to get away and find a safe place like a car or house.”
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