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June 7, 2014

Not a Drone Strike

On Saturday, Al and Betty Perry were driving along Highway 14 near Tofield, Alberta
when out of the sky came a massive bolt of lightning. It hit their silver Chevrolet pickup truck instantly filling the vehicle with smoke. “It’s an awful feeling to have,” said Al. “I saw our lives passing before my eyes.” The airbags deployed and the metal body was rippled by the heat. Parts of the truck were completely melted. Al said he believed the electrical system inside the truck was destroyed as the doors and windows were locked and would not open.
CTV Edmonton News

Posted by gerardvanderleun at June 7, 2014 10:05 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

Why you need a window breaker in your car!

Posted by: Sam L. at June 7, 2014 11:16 AM

EMPs behave the same way, whether they are natural or man-made.

Posted by: chasmatic at June 7, 2014 11:31 AM

My uncle Louie Lozko, we called him "Letsgo Lozko" worked for the bootleggers out of Chicago, driving loads of rye whiskey across the ice from Canada. They always took the doors off the cars in case one of 'em broke through the ice; the driver would have a slight chance of surviving. When he wasn't smuggling he was a dealer in stolen dogs. He was pals with Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik.

Posted by: chasmatic at June 7, 2014 12:27 PM

I've been fifteen feet from a lightning strike, and it doesn't sound like a sonic boom, it is a sonic boom.

Posted by: james wilson at June 7, 2014 2:04 PM

I'm guessing that the yellow flash in the video was probably the truck's paint vaporizing as the frame and sheetmetal of the vehicle conducted the charge around the passenger compartment. If that much current had gone through the bodies of those two folks instead of around them, they'd've been roasted like chickens on a spit.

The real disaster will be when they try to file a claim for the damages. Aren't auto insurance companies usually indemnified against claims resulting from Acts of God and other instances of force majeure?

Remember, the slogan says that State Farm is "like a good neighbor", not that it is a good neighbor, and that Nationwide Is Not Necessarily On Your Side.

Posted by: B Lewis at June 7, 2014 2:51 PM

We get more of those drones in the air and we will see more events like this. Delivering HE or EMP, could even drop biohazard materials.

Posted by: chasmatic at June 7, 2014 6:12 PM

First thing I would do after getting out of the truck is go buy a lottery ticket.

Posted by: GoneWithTheWind at June 7, 2014 6:21 PM

Acts of god.
Not covered under insurance.
He's fukked.

Posted by: ghostsniper at June 7, 2014 8:09 PM

Delivering HE or EMP, could even drop biohazard materials.

Or beer to thirsty ice-fishermen. Drones can be used for Good or for Evil. But I do kinda like the HE idea, too.

Posted by: SteveS at June 7, 2014 8:25 PM

The scary part about drones is, they are highly portable and user-friendly. Could run one off the tailgate of a truck. Any of those illegals flooding our borders can carry a lot of damage in a back pack. Used to be a few megatons in a briefcase; now a deadly payload in one a them drones.

Posted by: chasmatic at June 7, 2014 9:27 PM

Driving through eastern Tennessee one foggy night lightening hit my pickup, or very close. Diesel kept running but wouldn't accelerate and as usual on I-40, I was in the middle of a pack of semis. Pulled off the road, killed the engine, let er rest for a minute, restarted, and all's well. Except the AM radio would no longer work. FM was fine. Another time on my motorcycle had a strike on an interstate milemarker sign about 20 feet from me. I think someone was trying to get my attention. We live by grace alone.

Posted by: John Hinds at June 8, 2014 5:58 AM

"First thing I would do after getting out of the truck is go buy a lottery ticket."

Lightening struck and ruined my truck, I am so so lucky! The only damage the lightening did to me was make me extremely bad at math.

Posted by: Rope at June 8, 2014 9:01 AM

"The only damage the lightening did to me was make me extremely bad at math."

hmm, I would have thought it would do something for snarkiness.

Posted by: chasmatic at June 8, 2014 9:14 AM

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