Thankfully for one wildlife biologist, lightning doesn't usually strike twice.
Forrest Galante was in the middle of the Florida Everglades shooting a gear video for his YouTube channel when a lightning storm began. Galante, a Southern Californian, didn't think much about the strikes; his photographer, Mitch Long, who lives in the state, warned him to get out of the water. He didn't, and was subsequently hit by a lightning strike—and the whole thing was captured on video.
"And when I say feel it, I mean I felt the boom, the flash, obviously the electricity. It was like, right, right there. It was pretty scary," Galante told WINK. The hit sent Galante running out of the water in a hurry. But the incident didn't register with his brain right away.
"It sort of caught up with me, like I understood what had happened," Galante said. "My legs and butt were really sore. I don't know why my butt specifically. But yeah, now my hip, my lower body was really, really sore from the experience."
Florida is no stranger to lightning. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Sunshine State sees around 9,900 ground strikes annually. Florida fishermen have been hit in the past, along with their fishing poles.
Galante is well known worldwide in conservation and biology spaces. He said he will never underestimate the weather in Florida again and will listen to his photographer in the future. While only Galante was hit, both men suffered from post-lightning strike symptoms.
"Both of us had the same peculiar symptom of having this very metallic taste in our mouths for several days afterward," Galante said. "He told me to get out and to quit being an idiot, which is all true, by the way. And as I always do, 'Shut up, Mitch, we're fine,' because that's our dynamic. And then I got zapped, so I should have listened to him."
It's important to be aware of the weather when you spend time outdoors, Galante told the outlet.
