Lightning strikes woman in west Edmonton during severe thunderstorm

An Edmonton woman is recovering in hospital after being struck by lightning in west Edmonton Thursday as severe thunderstorms rolled across the city. 

Laura Penner says the sky rumbled and cracked as her friend was struck outside their shared home in the Callingwood South neighbourhood. 

Penner said she was sitting in her living room around 4 p.m., looking out the window. 

Her friend and roommate, a 21-year-old woman, had just crossed the street in front of their home, when she was surrounded by a flash and fell unconscious to the ground.

CBC News has identified the woman but has withheld her name as she continues to recover from her injuries and remains in a medically-induced coma. 

"There was a light all around her and a big boom," Penner said in an interview with CBC News Friday. 

Environment Canada says the woman's injuries are a stark reminder of the dangers lightning can pose when severe weather strikes. 

A spokesperson with Alberta Health Services said paramedics were called to the scene around 4:15 p.m. and a patient was taken to hospital in critical condition. 

Officials with Edmonton Fire Rescue Services declined to comment saying that the call was handled solely by EMS. 

'The flash was all around her'

When the lightning struck, Edmonton was under a severe thunderstorm warning. Penner said the rain had just started to fall outside their home when her friend was injured.

"Then there was a big boom and the big flash. And the flash was all around her," Penner said. 

"The light, it went all around her body as she fell to the ground," Penner said.  

Penner said her friend suffered a cardiac arrest and severe burns across her shoulder and torso. 

She remains in intensive care in an induced coma but is expected to make a full recovery, Penner said.

Penner said her friend was standing in the grass below a large tree when she was injured. 

Her friend had burns up her abdomen and across her shoulder where a sweater she was wearing was singed and burned away, Penner said.

'Within striking distance'

Christy Climenhaga, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said while direct lightning strikes are rare, indirect ones are more common.

Each year on average in Canada, there are between two and three lightning-related deaths and 180 lightning-related injuries.

In indirect hits, the lightning strike does not hit the person directly, but an object such as a tree or fence, before the electric charge travels or jumps toward the person.

She said the risk on Thursday was elevated as the Edmonton region as a pair of thunderstorms rolled through the region.

Climenhaga said the region recorded 1,229 lightning flashes, making it among the most active days for thunderstorm activity so far this season. 

"Lightning is a very real danger with thunderstorms and it can hit even very far from a thunderstorm. So it's why that there's that saying of when thunder roars go indoors," she said. 

"If you hear that thunder, you are within striking distance of lightning." 

As for Penner, she said she and her housemates are focused on making sure their friend has a good recovery.

They will be returning to hospital Friday, eager to be there to comfort their friend when she wakes up from sedation.  

"It was very scary. I'm just glad she's safe and sound right now."