LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE

Teen Struck by Lightning in Home Was 2nd Time She’d Been Hit

Lisa Henderson, 19, says she was in her bed doing something many of us do when lightning struck.

An Alabama teen is sharing her terrifying brush with death after lightning struck her while she was in bed. Lisa Henderson, 19, was scrolling on TikTok in her home in Russellville, Alabama Sunday night when a lightning bolt struck the house. “I heard the lightning strike, and then I heard a loud pop, and all I heard was ringing in my ear,” she told WHNT. The electric current surged through an outlet, into her phone, and up her arm. “Luckily, I thought to throw my phone,” Henderson said. “If I would’ve kept it, I could’ve been electrocuted even more than I was.” She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors said she was fortunate the current hadn’t traveled closer to her heart. Though still sore in her arm and shoulder, Henderson was released Monday. The odds of being struck by lightning in the United States in your lifetime are roughly 1 in 15,300, according to the National Weather Service—but Henderson says she’s defied them twice, having previously been hit while playing outside as a child. Only about 10 percent of lightning strike victims are killed; there were 13 lightning-related fatalities in 2024.