Teen injured in lightning strike

Friday, July 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A 17-year-old Girl Scout camp counselor escaped a lightning strike with her life as thunderstorms rumbled through Southern Nevada.

Skye Myers spent the night at University Medical Center after the 1:15 p.m. Thursday incident at Foxtail Camp in Lee Canyon, said her father, Richard Myers.

Skye is a counselor at the six-day Girl Scout camp attended by 87 children and more than 20 staff. No one else was injured.

After a pie-throwing contest between scouts and counselors, Skye had gone to shower in a cubicle open to the sky, her father said. The lightning bolt struck nearby, sending current through the shower's water.

"All of a sudden there was a flash and -- zap," he said.

The lightning left a small black spot on her hip. Mercy Ambulance brought her to UMC.

"She was fortunate, it could have killed her," Myers said. She never lost consciousness and was listed in stable condition at UMC with only a black mark to remember the experience.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Moapa Valley, Glendale and Logandale at 10:50 p.m. Thursday, meteorologist Ernie Cobb said.

The weather service rain gauges collected 0.35 inch before midnight, he said. Winds in the storm that extended from Echo Bay, at the northern tip of Lake Mead, to north of Nellis Air Force Base, reached 50 mph. There were no reports of damages or injuries.

Scattered afternoon and evening thunderstorms are possible tonight through Sunday, the weather service said.

The Black Mountain Golf Club in Henderson was closed Thursday after a strong storm cell struck the southeast valley Wednesday night. Winds gusted to 50 mph in the area, tearing up trees and downing power lines. A total of 15,000 customers lost power Wednesday, according to a Nevada Power Co. spokesman.