Man blown out of boots by lightning bolt

TORONTO – An Atlanta man is lucky to be alive after he was struck by lightning, blowing him right out of his work boots.

Sean O’Connor was doing yard work Saturday when he was struck by a bolt of lightning and knocked unconscious.

“Just as I picked up the rake, I heard a loud crashing sound,” O’Connor told CBS 46. “A few moments later I was picking myself up off the ground and I had a taste of blood in my mouth and notice my leg was burning.”

According to the 30-year-old, the sun was shining and there appeared to be no threat of storms when he began working in his yard.

“Right when the lightning struck it was a loud crash, like a clap,” O’Connor told the Atlanta news station.

O’Connor was home alone when the incident happened so he took a video with a mobile phone to show his wife the aftermath of the event.

“My leg hairs were singed, I could smell the burnt hair,” O’Connor recalled. “I looked across the driveway and I seen my boots over there…and one of them was smoking.”

O’Connor went to hospital with an irregular heartbeat and was kept overnight for observation.

“In my mind I had survived a lightning strike and I didn’t think things could get any worse from there.”