Struck by lightning

Thursday, June 17th 2004, 5:49 am

By: News On 6

They risk their own lives helping save others, by tracking Mother Nature's fury. Many times we rely on professional storm chasers for the latest information from the field. Sometimes that responsibility puts them in danger.

News on 6 reporter Heather Lewin introduces us to one Warn Team member who was recently struck by lightning, but lived to tell the story. JD Stewart has been a storm chaser for 25 years. He'd just about seen it all, until the night that nearly ended his career and his life. "Some of the worst lightning I've ever seen in my life, just great big huge strikes of lightning."

The storm was moving through Howard County, Kansas. Stewart's camera on top his van, was rolling when the bolt hit. "I almost felt like somebody had turned a light switch out in my mind, that's what it felt like."

Stewart believes the fact that it was a secondary strike rather than a direct hit, may have saved his life. "Went into the top of the metal mounting, went into the chassis frame into my arm and out through my leg. One of the paramedics estimated it was several thousand volts.â€

On the way to the hospital Stewart says his heart stopped, twice. Doctors released him after a night of observation, but he's still feeling the effects of the strike. Stewart suffers heart palpitations and hasn't completely recovered feeling on the left side of his body, but that's not slowing him down. â€œI do this basically for one purpose, and that's to save lives. I plan to continue doing it as long as I can. This isn't gonna stop me."

Stewart says he became interested in storm spotting as a teenager. That is when a tornado took the lives of three people close to him.