August 4
A bolt of lightning struck a 47-year-old Fort Saskatchewan man in the head on the Smoky Lake golf course yesterday - a freak accident that left the man in critical condition.
A pair of burnt shoes lay near a stand of trees lining the fairway, indicating the surge of electricity travelled through the man's body and was grounded through his feet.
In June, a lightning strike proved fatal for a 26-year-old man when it hit a tree near Pigeon Lake.
He had been hiding from the rain with several others when he was struck. Most of them were injured and his pregnant wife miscarried.
Lightning kills about six Canadians per year.
A single bolt of lightning of up to 100 million volts can be one million times more powerful than household current.
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