Lightning is one of the leading causes of weather-related fatalities. But the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are only around 1 in 500,000. Some factors can put you at greater risk of being struck. Regional, seasonal, and occupational differences affect your risk of being injured by lightning.

When it comes to people hit by lightning in our neck of the woods …Washington state ranks 41st.

So when Forks resident Guy Robbins heard thunder off in the distance as he was hunting … He wasn’t particularly alarmed.

It was Nov. 11, 2021, opening day of Elk hunting season, and like many opening days it started out the usual way …dark and wet. Guy had packed up a backpack to deal with the conditions and he and his cousin were hunting in a place they had hunted for the last 15 years.

“It was an area we knew and had been good to us,” Guy said.

In those past 15 years the vegetation has grown up; so they were hunting in some second-growth which also was brushy. That morning they set out hunting in the usual spot with their usual plan to meet up at about noon.

“It was about 11 a.m. when I called my cousin, it was raining and hard to dial out and not get drops of rain on my phone,” Guy said. “I could hear thunder out on the coast …far, far away.” He thought to himself … “No problem, yea …”

Guy was sitting on a root next to a tree with his phone and eating his sandwich, candy bar and having some water. “I was almost done eating when I saw my first flash, I counted …one-one thousand, two-one thousand …getting to 19, okay yea, I am okay.” When Guy saw the second flash he only got to nine-one thousand … Guy got up off the root and started into the forest. Guy said, “I thought to myself, I don’t fear lightning, been close to it before, and no problem.” Then Guy remembered thinking “this forest sure is dark.”

In those next few moments everything changed, the forest that was dark, turned so bright white that is turned what Guy describes as “clear” the ground was white.

“I was going to my knees, when a loud crack went off above me and then a tap to my head, I remember white ferns going past my face, that was the last thing I remember,” Guy said, adding, “my lights were out.”

Guy is not sure how long he was unconscious. When he opened his eyes he said it was so dark he couldn’t see a thing. He found himself on his back. He said, “My face was tingling, I couldn’t feel my body, all the way to my feet, I lay there trying to focus my eyes.” He could not see.

Then his lips and mouth started tingling, “My ears were plugged and I couldn’t hear anything, except a super high pitch ringing-hum.” As he lay on the forest floor his arms were first to start getting feeling back.

“I was trying to think what had happened.” His body coming back to life, slowly, he was now soaking wet and started shaking uncontrollably.

His vision began to come back as some feeling was also returning to his legs. “I sat up for the first time and the forest looked all sideways, it made no sense to me …again I wondered what had happened to me?”

His mind went to a memory of an explosion in 1994. A powder shack had exploded that day and he was sawing shingles about half a mile away. The pressure that went through his body years ago reminded him of this new experience. The shock wave he was currently experiencing seemed similar but far more intense.

“I tried to stand up but fell back down, I could taste blood, it was coming from my nose, my ears still were plugged but my vision was getting better.”

Guy realized he was in the forest, he could see his gun laying over to the side of him then he said he remembered, “I’m elk hunting.”

“I stood up leaning on a tree, shaking still out of control and my whole body hurt.”

Guy said he just wanted to go home. He walked around a bit, getting his legs to work, before grabbing his gun. “I couldn’t walk a straight line without falling down.”

It was then that Guy realized it was thunder and lightning that had done something to him. “I remembered counting …my mind just couldn’t think straight.”

The first problem was he realized he was going the wrong way to get home …which was now his main objective.

The shaking, and ear ringing and humming continued as he then thought of his cell phone and that his cousin was nearby. Trouble was his phone screen looked black …no phone.

“I started to walk down the road, I was getting mad at myself as I kept falling on my own gun, which I had just redone up nice for hunting season.”

The road was downhill and Guy said it felt like someone was shoving him along as he made his way down, everything was wet and slick.

“I looked at my phone again and I couldn’t see any light, my eyes were dilated.”

Guy finally made his way to the main road and the meeting spot where he was to join-up with his cousin at noon. He again took out his phone and this time he could see the screen.

“I called my cousin and told him he needed to get me home, now.”

When Guy’s cousin finally got to him Guy could tell by the look on his face that something was wrong, “I could see from his face that something bad had happened to me.”

The white of Guy’s right eye was red and full of blood, thankfully his nose had stopped bleeding. “My cousin asked if I should go get checked out, I told him no, I just wanted to go home.I knew if I got checked out at the hospital they would keep me overnight …I had two more days to hunt!”

He later did get checked over. Guy said the body soreness stuck around for a while and his mind was “lost a little.”

Guy said, “I am just glad to still be alive and to go through that experience …like I had a choice?”

Only about 10 percent of people who are struck by lightning are killed, leaving 90 percent with various degrees of disability. From 2009-2018, the U.S. has averaged 27 lightning fatalities.