At around 2:50 p.m. local time on Tuesday, the Grand Canyon Communications Center was alerted to lightning striking several people at Bright Angel Trailhead, the national park’s most popular hiking trail.
A 30-year-old man and 28-year-old woman were found unresponsive at the scene. The woman regained a pulse after she was given CPR and other life-saving treatment. The man regained consciousness without treatment.
The storm came during Arizona’s monsoon season, which happens between mid-June to mid-September. There is an increased risk of thunderstorms during this period.
The weather meant the pair could not be transported to safety by air. Instead, they were driven to Flagstaff Medical Center, a major regional hospital and trauma center in Arizona.
According to a news release issued on Wednesday, the woman was in a stable condition at a regional burn center.
At least two other people took themselves to the Grand Canyon Clinic after they were injured by lightning splash, where a person acts as a short circuit for some of the energy given off by a strike. This happens when lightning hits an object taller than the victim, and some of the current jumps from that object to the person.
The Grand Canyon Communications Center said in a news release: “This lightning strike is a reminder that monsoon season brings not only rain, but dangerous and potentially life-threatening lightning during thunderstorms.” It said lightning strikes 25,000 times per year on average at the park, and it has caused serious injuries and deaths there in the past.
If a lightning flash is followed by the sound of thunder within 30 seconds or less, visitors to the park are advised to seek shelter in a building, vehicle or go to the nearest bus stop to get on the park shuttle.
According to the National Weather Service, lightning is a major cause of storm-related deaths in the U.S., with an average of 43 reported lightning deaths happening each year between 1989 to 2018. Around 10 percent of people hit by lightning are killed, and the remainder are left with “various degrees of disability.” A lightning strike can cause the heart to stop. It can also cause a “delayed death” if a person is resuscitated but has irreversible brain damage.
Kaitlyn Thomas of the National Park Service told Fox 10 Phoenix: “It was definitely a scary moment for everyone involved.”
Jessica Walker told Fox 10 Phoenix she was with her family at Mather Point at Grand Canyon National Park when the weather went from sunny and overcast to stormy all of a sudden.
She said: “It rained harder than I have ever seen it rain, anywhere really. There was lightning literally across the sidewalk from where we were standing outside… It was very loud and crazy. I have never experienced lightning like that.”
