Moment explorer is struck by lightning while walking through everglades
When you see survival experts on television, you kind of accept that they don't really put themselves in harm's way when filming. It's just a bit if theatre.
Well, the same cannot be said for Forrest Galante, who was struck by lightning while out in the wilderness. Yep. Check it out:
The wildlife expert and biologist was recently shooting a promotional video for his channel in Everglades City, Florida, when the incident happened.
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In the short clip, which was posted to his YouTube channel, Galante can be seen standing thigh deep in a swamp as he talks to the camera.
But as the footage goes on, deafening thunder can be heard rolling in around him as the rain falls, and the television presenter nervously looking up to the sky.
And a few seconds later, a loud crack and bright flash of lighting strikes, hitting Galante, who jumps out of his skin and leaps out of the water to safety.
"I got hit," he said in the video. "I felt it. Yeah, I got hit. That hurt."
Speaking about the terrifying incident, Galante said in a YouTube video that he didn't expect the weather to turn so abruptly.
"We’re getting some great shots," he said. "Beautiful day. Water’s clear. Things are going great.
"Towards the end of the day, we come up on the last thing we need to do, and the rain starts to roll in."
He said that as time went on, he could hear the thunder coming in but didn't think twice about it really.
"It’s Florida," he said. "It rains here. There’s lightning and thunder all the time."
Despite his nonchalance, however, someone in his team started to get a little concerned about how things were playing out.
Galante went on: "He’s like, ‘I don’t think we should, man. That thunder, the rain is pretty serious'.
"And I’m like, ‘Shut up, Mitch. We’re fine'. Like always, which is our dynamic."
Armed with their cavalier attitude, the group marched off to the swamp to get a few more shots, and the rest is history.
Looking back at the close shave, Galante said it took him by surprise. No s**t.
"Out of nowhere, crazy thunder hits and this massive flash," he said.
"And I don’t see anything because I’m facing the camera. But I just feel my legs seize up and my butt. I’m like, literally paralysed. For just a fraction of a second before trying to scramble up the bank and out of the water."
Even though he felt the lightning, it was only when he watched the clip back that he realised how close the strike was, Galante said.
He added: "Through that superconductive water (the lightning) has just gone shooting up my legs into my waist, into my heart and into my mouth, actually.
"I’m not a person who gets rattled by a narrow experience, but sort of coming down from it now, the whole thing is pretty crazy.
"Like, it’s crazy to think how close we were to a lightning strike. It's crazy the reaction I’m having with regards to the soreness in my legs and butt and this metallic taste in my mouth."
Mother Nature ain't no joke, folks.
Dominic Smithers