Man working on roof struck by lightning

The Orlando Fire Department says a man was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center as a trauma alert, after being injured a possible lightning strike.

Crews from Station 11 responded to a "possible electrocution" call on Lake Arnold Place late Wednesday afternoon.  

"I could hear them hollering for the man that was injured," said Darla Pagano, who lives nearby.  "I ran over there." 
Pagano and Melissa Lyttle discovered a roofer on the ground. 

"He was on the ladder. I don't know if the lightning actually hit the tree or kinda threw him, it threw him off that ladder," Pagano explained.

Lyttle said they were able to get him to sit up, and then they called 911.

"Had a bump on his head, he was bleeding and real out of it," Lyttle said.

Two of the victim's coworkers said the man was injured on the side of his neck, but he was able to talk. 

"The lightning will travel through. So if it hit that tree and went to the ladder which was medal, it easily could have gone whereever, and it will go through the body." 

If it was a lightning strike that he survived, neighbors call it a miracle. 

"He was very lucky!" Pagano said.

Weather experts say you should avoid tall trees and metal objects during a thunder storm. 
 

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