Watch This Toyota Prius Get Struck By Lightning

I’ve had a lifelong fear of thunderstorms, lightning, and tornados. So many of my earliest childhood memories involve watching a nasty storm come in while strapped into a car seat in the back of a vehicle or trapped on a school bus, just waiting to be blasted into smithereens. And that’s exactly what happened to this Toyota Prius.

This video comes from High Risk Chris, a storm-chasing YouTuber whose videos are exactly the sort of thing I don’t have the heart to watch. I did, however, watch this Prius get lit up by a heft lightning strike because a good friend of mine — a fellow storm chaser — sent it to my husband with no context:

As you can imagine, the lightning strike happens so quickly that it’s impossible to see at first. Thankfully, High Risk Chris slows things down so you can actually watch this blast hit the poor Prius that already looked like it was struggling down the road.

When slowed down to 1/20 speed, though, you can actually see the flames erupt as the lightning hits the vehicle.

“Story: My friend was struck by lightning on 4-12-2022 in Iowa during a storm chase,” the video caption reads. “I just so happened to be recording in that direction when it happened. His car was immobilized, and it is still being worked on. CRAZY!”

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Crazy indeed, High Risk Chris.

I’m interested in seeing how the vehicle has fared since being struck and what it looks like now, but there hasn’t been an update.

Let this be a reminder to stay in your vehicle when there’s lightning afoot. The metal of your vehicle directs the electricity around the cage of the vehicle and into the ground, leaving the occupants — who are usually insulated by fabric and plastic — safe inside.