An Arkansas man was recovering at home Wednesday after a bolt of lightning struck him hours earlier as he loaded an airplane at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock.
Darin Campbell, 52, said he remembers stepping off the 757 jet, seeing a blinding flash and hearing "instant thunder." The lightning bolt knocked him unconscious for several minutes just before midnight Tuesday.
"It felt like getting hit in the head by a ball bat," said Campbell, who has worked 35 years for UPS. "Apparently, I had God with me."
Once he regained consciousness, he was able to walk down some stairs to an ambulance that was waiting to take him to a nearby hospital, he said.
Speaking Wednesday morning by phone from his home in Alexander, Campbell said he was feeling fine aside from a headache and general soreness after the bolt came "out of the blue" not 12 hours earlier and "grabbed him."
The strike left a baseball-sized char mark on the top of his head, indicating that the bolt likely hit him there.
Medical staff members at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock cleared him for release after scanning his heart and head for possible problems.
His son drove him to the airport to check on his truck and then drove them home, even though Campbell said he probably could have driven himself home around 4 a.m.
An average of 33 people die from lightning each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The rarity of such strikes on people is well-documented.
A 2016 study published for the International Conference on Lightning Protection's annual conference found that the United States had among the lowest rates of fatal lightning strikes in the world, at 0.1 per 1 million people.
Researchers also found that nine out of 10 people survive after being hit by lightning in the United States.
The National Weather Service in North Little Rock recorded two deaths from lightning across the state last year, but it recorded none in the previous two years. Some 80 people have been injured by lightning since 1996.
"If you hear thunder, you're close enough to get hit by lightning, so get inside," said Brian Smith, a senior forecaster at the National Weather Service.
Friends and family called Campbell throughout the day Wednesday to check on him and joke about how he should go out and buy lottery tickets. Campbell said he plans to buy a shirt with a lightning bolt on it before returning to work when he feels better.
For now, he said, he's taking a few days off.
"I'm just thankful to be alive," he said.
State Desk on 02/21/2019