Making phone calls during thunderstorms can be shocking. During the big thunderstorms over the bank holiday weekend, lightning struck a telephone pole and set fire to a phone box in Dawlish, Devon. Luckily, no one was using the phone at the time, but people making phone calls indoors have been hit from lightning strikes outside.
On 14 July 1995, a woman working in a shop at Glasgow Zoo was on the phone when lightning sent a surge of electrical current through the phone. It flew from her hand and she described a feeling like being hit by a sledgehammer. That same day, the telephone exchange in Kirkcaldy, Scotland was also hit and several of the phone operators working there sustained electric shocks.
Lightning strikes down phone lines have knocked others unconscious, and delivered burns or temporary hearingloss. Even a phone not in use can be blown up by a lightning strike.
Mobile phones are much safer. It’s a myth that mobiles attract lightning, but if someone is struck by lightning and happens to be using a mobile phone, they can get burns around the ear and cheek.
