National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

In Apartment with Open Doors

 

I have an apartment in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on top of a 5 story building. It is at the bottom of the major mountain pass and 5 blocks from the beach so the warm air collides with the cold air from the mountains directly above my building. All summer there are epic storms in Vallarta and I always seem to be in the heart of the storm so I always go inside when they begin.

I was in my bedroom with both my front door and back door open (they line up perfectly), laying on my bed and trying to calm down my loving Terrier, Bodie. He was shaking violently and I had my hand on his head telling him not to worry, "I will keep you safe." Seconds later, looking out my open bedroom door I see a 4-5 ft. stream/tube of lightning flying through my apartment and splintering in all directions. It seemed like slow motion.

The lightning entered into my spine which was pressed against a wall and left 2 holes in my back then went into my pets head which fried his hearing and vision. He is deaf and blind now.

All of the electronics as well as my refrigerator, phone, Internet, etc. , exploded or shorted out for good. Many of my Spanish clay roof tiles cracked and fell in. My neighbors on the lower floors rushed up to see what happened. I was in a state of semi-consciousness. My neighbors saw some smoke come out my back from the holes! It took about a week to clear my head and then the huge changes in me began. I started to “know" so much, such as when I was being lied to, I could see who was a bad person and predict when things would happen. I would know what the truth was in most situations even if I was not there.

This changed my life dramatically. I dropped so many people out of my life. I had been incredibly social, happy, with hundreds of "friends" and all of a sudden I knew who and what was real. I had no more desire to be very social. Many said it was depression or bipolar disorder.

The lightning did cause me to have some nerve damage resulting in a tremor in my hands, mostly my left which is my dominate. This hand gets very bad when I am tired and, like many others, I now sleep less and have terrible insomnia. I am far less patient.