Thunderbolt and lightning!

[ozchick]

Seletar Camp. Lightening central for Singapore. ~1997 sitting at my PC, lightening strikes the rod at the top of my bungalow. Grounding Strap comes down the wall around 2 metres from my chair with only a plywood partition separating us. Family in other house behind ours saw the lightening strike and see the big ball of fire (is this what they call St. Elmo's fire?) descend the grounding strap and into the earth. What they didn't see is me having a huge static discharge come through my computer motherboard and through the mouse and knock me completely out of the chair! I was actually at the other unit with the family as well, and when the storm started I ran back to the house to shut down the PC, so my feet were wet (barefooted), and standing on the same concrete that the grounding strap went through, guess I made a pretty good ground as well! No worse for wear, but fried the mouse port on the motherboard. Fried my 29" CTV as well (static discharge from the grounding straps on the roof went underneath the aerial supports (not touching) and because the TV is on standby (remote controls) that mean open circuits!

Have seen a number of VERY close strikes (less than 100 metres away) out there in the 15 years I lived there.

Jeezaloo you're in the wars farmboy when you're not even IN the war! You got 9 lives or WHAT?!

[sundaymorningstaple]

At the moment, I reckon I've got either 2 or 3 left. I used a couple in the war, a couple offshore, two in Singapore and if we count a couple of fender benders (I'm not) then I'm overdue otherwise, I got a couple left.

[nakatago]

At the moment, I reckon I've got either 2 or 3 left. I used a couple in the war, a couple offshore, two in Singapore and if we count a couple of fender benders (I'm not) then I'm overdue otherwise, I got a couple left.

↑, ↑, ↓, ↓, ←, →, ←, →, B, A

30 lives.

[geerang]

Seriously sometimes this stuff has me saying my prayers!
Saturday afternoon I could have sworn I was in a war-zone....ooh and then this afternoon again. Each wet season I start to get used to it all again...but when the storm is on there can be that sudden quiet....followed by a sharp "ts ts" ! OMG I've seen that- those lightning strikes mid air like sparks....ooh I swear it's sending a bolt right through the apartment...ooh.....scary place this time of year....

Generally it is not a problem as the buildings around you have lighting rods. Unless you are in open fields where the lightning strikes can be very vicious.

I recall reading that Singapore has one of the highest ligthning strikes rate in the world. ^shudders^ I just checked this out:

"Singapore is one of the most deadly places in the world as far as lightning is concerned. This small Manhattan sized island, is struck by lightning once every other day (180 days a year). Statistically speaking, the odds of getting hit by lightning here are astounding. More people die of lightning strikes (about 100/year) than traffic accidents. "

http://www.hps.com/~tpg/singapore/index.php?file=vol28

[JR8]

I quite enjoy the mega-storms, although my wife does less so

In a few instances, I have had (I work from home, all windows always open; so less insulated from the elements than an office worker)... you know that bit of a strange 'weather feeling' going on that you get, no rain, storm, maybe just the change in air pressure, and then suddenly a cataclysmic BAM!!! thunderbolt right above out of the blue Man I just hit the deck by instinct! That freaks me out! But then I don't exactly welcome unplanned or unexpected explosions of that magnitude right by me...

[NBB2]

We used to get told when we were kids never to shelter under a tree in a thunderstorm.
At Sentosa last Saturday afternoon, the lifeguard was out with a loudhailer telling everyone to clear the water at there was a lightening alert, long before any rain fell. It rained briefly and there were a few rumbles - apparently we missed one heck of a storm!
There was an amazing story a few months back about a girl who got struck while windsurfing off the East Coast. She was paralysed but somehow has written a book!

She wasn't really paralysed, she was dead. But a few docs that were at the surf club where it happened revived her.

Mind you, her muscle control had taken a bit of a hit; luckily she's really improved over the years.

She did write a book, quite a cute one too.

A guy got hit last year, nothing major this time, just a numb foot and a fried sail. I felt that one shoot up my arm, I was about 100 m away. It felt like a current when you touch a live wire. Scared the cr*p out of me. Never going out again during a lightning storm.

[Superglide]

finaly some excitement in the little red dot, everyone gets scared....

[ksl]

Geerang link:We've been here 8-9 months now and I've never seen the power even flicker once - not something I can say for a comparable time in either Minnesota or Michigan

Wish i could say that about our HDB, it blows the circuit switch without fail every time!

[Strong Eagle]

Generally it is not a problem as the buildings around you have lighting rods. Unless you are in open fields where the lightning strikes can be very vicious.

Be clear that lightening rods aren't sitting there to give lightening an alternative path to zapping your arse. Were lightening to actually hit a rod, it would fry the rod, the ground link, and anything else in the way, something like what happened to SMS.

No the rods (which you may have noticed have sharp pointed tips) are intended to defuse the path lightening will take. The negative charge builds up until a lightening bolt overcomes the resistance of the air and a charge is fired. The lightening rod helps discharge the negative charge before it builds up.

[aster]

Good thing that we don't get blackouts during these electrical storms. Imagine all those people stuck in lifts simultaneously...

Was there a major blackout in recent years btw?

[ksl]

Good thing that we don't get blackouts during these electrical storms. Imagine all those people stuck in lifts simultaneously...

Was there a major blackout in recent years btw?

Tell me about it, Taiwan lift blacked out, 30 minutes feels like several hrs jammed in, made me realise I don;t like lifts anymore especially when all these Asians just keep squeezing in trying to break world records of how many people they can get in a lift. I have a tendency to keep close to the front, and if they keep coming I walk out.

They have the commonsense of lemmings playing follow the leader, and not a damn thought of the consequences. It's like being buried alive with little hope after 5 minutes.

This problem i am very aware of and people laugh at me, I don't care i will take the steps to the 40th floor rather than get in a full lift, once bitten twice shy. It's also not long ago that a lift cable snapped and the lift plummeted to the ground with people in, only from the 11th floor I think it was expat kids inside the lift.

Only once did i get in a lift here in Singapore and the door closed and no lights, that was also a bad experience pitch black and not knowing if it was moving or not, but couldn't see or feel any buttons, then the door opened.

[JR8]

Reminds of a news piece about 15 years ago.

A guy running for a lift in an office building in Manhattan. He makes it and is pressing the hold button looking out of the lift waiting for his colleague too. The doors close on his neck and the lift goes up and he was decapitated. His head rolling into the lift lobby at that floor


(True news story)

[nakatago]

Reminds of a news piece about 15 years ago.

A guy running for a lift in an office building in Manhattan. He makes it and is pressing the hold button looking out of the lift waiting for his colleague too. The doors close on his neck and the lift goes up and he was decapitated. His head rolling into the lift lobby at that floor


(True news story)

Could you find the original story? I'm gonna send this to the Mythbusters; sounds right up their alley.

[JR8]

Reminds of a news piece about 15 years ago.

A guy running for a lift in an office building in Manhattan. He makes it and is pressing the hold button looking out of the lift waiting for his colleague too. The doors close on his neck and the lift goes up and he was decapitated. His head rolling into the lift lobby at that floor


(True news story)

Could you find the original story? I'm gonna send this to the Mythbusters; sounds right up their alley.

I doubt it, twas a long time ago. It was in/from a reputable news source though. I recall reading it there was no sense of it being rumour or exaggeration... I was simply horrified.

[nakatago]

Reminds of a news piece about 15 years ago.

A guy running for a lift in an office building in Manhattan. He makes it and is pressing the hold button looking out of the lift waiting for his colleague too. The doors close on his neck and the lift goes up and he was decapitated. His head rolling into the lift lobby at that floor


(True news story)

Could you find the original story? I'm gonna send this to the Mythbusters; sounds right up their alley.

I doubt it, twas a long time ago. It was in/from a reputable news source though. I recall reading it there was no sense of it being rumour or exaggeration... I was simply horrified.

Apparently, snopes.com has it covered: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/elevator.asp

The improbable circumstances were due to a malfunction that someone already found but not yet fixed and the "out of order" sign apparently went missing that day.