Adolescents recover from a devastating shock; 1 remains in hospital

SALINA, Sevier County — All but one of the teenagers hospitalized after a lightning strike have been sent home, according to the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office.

In a message to KSL-TV, Sheriff Nathan Curtis confirmed that all but one of the teens had been released from the hospital. A young woman remained at Salt Lake City Children’s Hospital for an MRI and follow-up tests.

In total, about 50 teenagers were shocked by lightning in eastern Sevier County Thursday while hiking at a church.

According to Curtis, seven teens were hospitalized and two were flown to hospitals in northern Utah. KSL-TV confirmed that one of the teens was flown to Primary Children’s Hospital’s Miller Family Campus in Lehi and the other to the Salt Lake City campus.

According to a news release from the sheriff’s office, the teens escaped life-threatening injuries and no serious burns were reported.

“I think I felt a lot of adrenaline just because I wanted to be the group mom and make sure everyone was okay, but now that we’ve had a few hours to decompress, we’re feeling more and more more good,” said Alyssa Rosquist, 17, in an interview with KSL-TV Thursday evening. “But I also feel at least very lucky. »

And luck may have been on their side. It appears no one was directly struck by lightning.

The National Weather Service office in Salt Lake City was closely tracking Thursday’s powerful storm.

Considering the power of a lightning charge of 300 million watts and 30,000 amps, they were concerned for the young man involved in the incident, but not surprised.

David Church, science and operations manager at the Salt Lake City Weather Prediction Office, said lightning-related injuries in Utah are not uncommon.

“Utah is, per capita, in the top 10 in the country for annual lightning deaths. That shows, I think, a lot of the intersection between being outside and nature,” Church said. “These thunderstorms that come every afternoon in the summer in the mountains, where we want to relax.”

The last lightning death in Utah was in 2016, and the last reported injury was in 2021.

As for the lightning, Church said it was powerful and very unpredictable. While metal and water do not attract electricity, they are conductors. The electrical charge from the lightning likely traveled through the water to the ground and electrocuted the teens.

“Lightning always looks for the path of least resistance to the ground,” Church explained. “It’s a very chaotic, rather random process; we don’t know where lightning is going to strike.”

As everyone tries to understand the physics of what the teens went through, they are relieved that everyone survived.

“I think it was definitely a big blessing,” Rosquist said.

According to Church, there is unfortunately very little you can do to protect yourself from lightning once you are outside. The best option is to find a shelter or a hard-top vehicle.