Two lifeguards have been taken to hospital after a lightning strike in west Ireland. The lightning strike on Banna seaside in Co Kerry occurred shortly earlier than 4pm right this moment (Saturday, June 17).

A yellow climate warning for Kerry and surrounding counties was issued by Met Eireann at 1:30pm on Saturday, however the lifeguards have been nonetheless trying to clear individuals from the water when the strike occurred.

Roger Sweeney, Deputy CEO of Water Safety Ireland, informed the PA News Agency that the lifeguards are nice however are being monitored in hospital.  He mentioned: “Thankfully both Lifeguards are fine, with no entry or exit wounds.”

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“The lightning strike happened on Banna beach in Kerry shortly before 4pm. The Lifeguards had observed flashes of lightning on the horizon and were in the process of clearing the water of people when a strike occurred on the beach, close to both Lifeguards.

“They did not suffer any wounds and were taken by ambulance to hospital where they are being monitored.  The beach was closed and Banna Rescue, a local voluntary search and rescue unit which is one of the Community Rescue Boats of Ireland did a great job in continuing to clear the water and sand of visitors.

“All lifeguarded beaches in North Kerry were closed as a precaution.”

s when it struck. Keep in thoughts that you ought to be in a secure place whereas counting.”

Video on social media confirmed flooding in streets throughout Co Kerry, with a Dunnes Stores in Tralee being evacuated following intense rainfall.  The University Hospital Kerry mentioned it had been impacted by flooding and quite a lot of areas had closed, with individuals being suggested solely to come back to the hospital in case of emergency.

Mr Sweeney suggested towards being in or close to giant our bodies of water throughout the kind of climate situations anticipated in lots of areas of Ireland over the weekend and gave recommendation on the way to inform how far a thunderstorm is. 

“If you are in a thunderstorm, cancel any plans to go swimming and if you are swimming, get to shore as quickly as possible, as water conducts electricity, in much the same way as metal pipes and phone lines,” he mentioned.

“Take shelter. The thunder begins as a shockwave from the lightning. The lightning itself can strike as much as 10 miles from the centre of a storm.

“Count the seconds between seeing any lightning and listening to thunder. We see lightning first as a result of gentle travels sooner than sound. It takes roughly 5 seconds for the sound of thunder to journey a mile.

“So, once you rely the variety of seconds between seeing a crack of lightning and listening to the thunder, divide that quantity by 5 and that's what number of miles away the lightning wa