Truck 'completely fried' by Florida lightning strike caught on camera
The photographer said her family were on their way home from a vacation when she noticed lightning and began filming.
Watch: Woman captures explosive lightning striking her husband's truck
A woman captured an explosive lightning strike hitting her husband's truck on the highway in Tampa, Florida on July 1.
TAMPA, Fla. -- A Florida family on their way home from vacation was given one last memorable moment when one of their vehicles was struck by lightning.
Michaelle May Whalen, who filmed the footage, told Storyful that her husband and three children were traveling in the vehicle in front of her near Tampa Friday when it was hit by the lightning strike.
Whalen said everyone in the truck was uninjured. However, the truck was "completely fried" by the lightning strike, she said.
Whalen said her family were on their way home from a vacation when she noticed lightning and began filming.
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"It started to storm and I thought the lightning was neat, so I was trying to snap a picture of the lightning and missed every time," Whalen said. "So my son-in-law suggested I slow-motion video record, and that’s when I captured the event on camera."
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Florida is the lightning capital of the United States, home to the greatest lightning density and frequency of thunderstorms, especially in the summer. Research by Vaisala shows the state averages nearly 1.2 million lightning strikes a year.
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Florida also far and away leads the nation in lightning-related deaths with 49 since 201, according to the National Lightning Safety Council. It's more than double the next state on the list -- Texas, which had 22 deaths.