THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407190345
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
A rainstorm hammered the Outer Banks Monday afternoon, punctuated in several areas by bolts of lightning, including a strike near a Nags Head nursing home.
Residents at Britthaven Outer Banks Nursing Home were evacuated from their rooms by as a precaution after smoke was discovered in the dining and kitchen areas.
Nags Head Volunteer Fire Department Chief Doug Remaley said lightning apparently knocked out one of three electrical generators at the home.
Units from Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Colington and Roanoke Island also sped to the nursing home as a precaution, as well as personnel from the Dare County Emergency Medical Systems. No one was hurt.
Lightning also caused about $5,000 in damage at a residence in the Village at Nags Head. According to Remaley, a bolt knocked a hole in the roof, and caused damage to sheet rock in an upstairs bedroom. No one was hurt.
The home of Nags Head volunteer firefighter Rob Blevins, at 300 Barracuda St. in Old Nags Head Cove, suffered minor electrical damage when it was hit.
A condominium near the Shrine Club in Manteo also was hit. Roanoke Island Fire Department Capt. Fred Parker said damage was minor. And firefighters battled a marsh fire believed touched off by lightning behind the Christmas Shop in Manteo. There was little damage.
The storm was the latest to hit the area in the past several days.
A 28-year-old Florida woman suffered cardiac arrest Saturday afternoon in Corolla after an electrical charge from nearby lightning traveled through her body.
The lightning struck the beach and 4-wheel-drive area half a mile north of the Ocean Hill subdivision shortly before 2:30 p.m., according to Corolla Fire and Rescue Captain Julie Cherry.
Cherry said bystanders Chuck Mosher of Chapel Hill and Chip Gutman, a Corolla Light employee, called 911 and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics arrived.
The unidentified woman was airlifted to Albemarle Hospital at Elizabeth City and later taken to Norfolk General Hospital by ambulance, where she regained consciousness early Sunday morning, Cherry said.
She ``is expected to make a full recovery,'' Cherry said.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT GENERAL LIGHTNING INJURIES by CNB