Pavement Jumps Into Truck After Lightning Strike

The pavement penetrated the truck's cab, hurting both occupants in the process. Image: Walton County Fire Rescue — The pavement penetrated the truck’s cabin, hurting both occupants in the process. Image: Walton County Fire Rescue

A freak accident occurred near mile marker 81 on the eastbound I-10 in Walton County, Florida today: lightning struck the roadway, ejecting a large chunk of pavement from the road and propelling it into a truck. The incident happened at 7:30am today as a line of strong thunderstorms moved through.

After entering the cabin through the windshield, the asphalt and shattered glass struck both the driver and the passenger before exiting out the rear window, destroying it in the process. According to the Walton County Fire Rescue crew that arrived on the scene, both occupants were transported with injuries to a local hospital for care.

After striking the occupants, the debris left the rear of the truck, destroying the rear window in the process. Image: Walton County Fire Rescue

Walton County is located on the Emerald Coast in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida, with its southern border on the Gulf of Mexico. I-10 in Walton County serves as the primary highway between Pensacola to its west and Tallahassee to its east.

A bolt of lightning is extremely hot. Lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is roughly 5 times hotter than the surface of the Sun. When a bolt strikes pavement, it can melt and/or explode it, as was the case in today’s accident.