{"id":505578,"date":"2026-02-26T15:17:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/505578\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T15:17:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:17:24","slug":"three-people-injured-in-perth-lightning-strikes-as-beloved-family-pet-killed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/505578\/","title":{"rendered":"Three people injured in Perth lightning strikes as beloved family pet killed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman has described her shock after learning her father had been seriously hurt and her dog killed in a lightning strike in suburban Perth on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Karyn Avalos said she was at work when she received a call from her husband delivering the awful news.<\/p>\n

Her father, Michael Day, was walking her dog Messi in Hamersley about 8:30am when the bolt struck.<\/p>\n

Mr Day, 78, suffered burns to his abdomen and thigh and Messi was killed.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Messi the dog was killed by the lightning strike. (Supplied: Karyn Avalos)<\/p>\n

Ms Avalos said she went to the site where her father had been struck.<\/p>\n

“His T-shirt had been shredded, so we picked up parts of his shirt and handkerchief,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The spot where the lightning struck in Hamersley.\u00a0 (ABC News: Blake Kagi)<\/p>\n

She said her father remained in hospital and was in a lot of pain.<\/p>\n

“We’re so relieved that my dad is fine,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Karyn Avalos was relieved her father survived the incident.\u00a0 (ABC News: Blake Kagi)<\/p>\n

“But we are devastated that we’ve lost our much-loved dog.<\/p>\n

“Everyone is just shocked.”<\/p>\n

Girls hospitalised<\/p>\n

In Perth’s east teenager Georgia Rizzi was injured by a lightning strike on her school tennis court, saying she felt her “spine vibrate” after a bolt hit a nearby basketball hoop and hurt her and a friend.<\/p>\n

The 16-year-old was one of three people in Perth taken to hospital on Thursday due to injuries caused by lightning strikes after a thunderstorm moved over the city.<\/p>\n

Ms Rizzi was at school in Mount Helena where she suffered a burn.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Georgia Rizzi said lightning ricocheted off a basketball hoop before hitting her and her friend.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Describing the moments leading up to the strike, the teenager said she and her friends noticed thunder and lightning while walking out to her school’s sports courts.<\/p>\n

“Everyone’s hair started sticking up,” she said.<\/p>\n

“And then there was a loud bang.”<\/p>\n

Ms Rizzi said the lightning struck a nearby basketball hoop before hurting her and her friend.<\/p>\n

“I remember feeling pain on my head and my spine vibrate,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I started crying because I felt [numb] in my feet.”<\/p>\n

Ms Rizzi said her friends helped her to the school office where teachers assessed the two girls and noticed they were stuttering and were struggling to stand.<\/p>\n

She said the teachers took her and her friend to a nearby room and advised them to lay on the floor with their feet elevated before an ambulance arrived and took her to hospital.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Eastern Hills Senior High School is in Mount Helena, about 40 kilometres east of Perth.\u00a0 (ABC News: Mya Kordic)<\/p>\n

While at hospital, Ms Rizzi said several tests were completed including one on her heart, before she was discharged and told to monitor her symptoms.<\/p>\n

She said other than some pain in her spine she is feeling well.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for the WA Department of Education told the ABC there were no witnesses to the lightning strike reported at the school.<\/p>\n

“The department is aware of two school students in the Perth Hills who reported being struck by lightning and feeling unwell this morning,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“School staff responded quickly, and as a precaution the students were taken to hospital by St John ambulance for further assessment.”<\/p>\n

‘Never heard of that happening’<\/p>\n

St John WA manager Deane Coxall said it was incredibly rare for three people to be injured by lightning strikes in one day.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been in this job almost 15 years and I have never heard of that happening, especially here in Western Australia,” Mr Coxall said.<\/p>\n

“It is an incredibly unfortunate and unlikely event, I would be very surprised if we ever saw it again.”<\/p>\n

Mr Coxall urged people to be careful in stormy conditions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Paramedic Deane Coxall says it was an “incredibly unlikely” event.\u00a0 (ABC News: Mya Kordic)<\/p>\n

“As much as the risk is minimal, I think everyone needs to be aware that particularly during electrical storms, there is still a chance of this occurring,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So protect yourself first and foremost.<\/p>\n

“If anyone in the area does see someone affected by a lightning strike, then call 000.”<\/p>\n

BOM meteorologist Caroline Crow said about 10,000 lightning strikes were recorded during the thunderstorms, which were widespread across the metropolitan area and the south of WA.<\/p>\n

It’s estimated about 100 people in Australia are struck by lightning each year<\/a>, and between five to ten people die from their injuries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman has described her shock after learning her father had been seriously hurt and her dog killed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4360,43,44096,253918,253916,253917,253915,253920,209787,253913,253914,44,253919,253910,86,253909,253911,41,39,42,40,45,253912,91778],"class_list":{"0":"post-505578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-extreme-weather","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-lightning","11":"tag-lightning-hamersley","12":"tag-lightning-mount-helena","13":"tag-lightning-mt-helena","14":"tag-lightning-perth","15":"tag-lightning-strike","16":"tag-lightning-strikes","17":"tag-lightning-strikes-perth","18":"tag-lightning-tracker-perth","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-perth-girl-hit-by-lightning","21":"tag-perth-lightning-strikes","22":"tag-perth-news","23":"tag-perth-school-girl-struck-by-lightning","24":"tag-three-people-struck-by-lightning","25":"tag-top-news","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topnews","28":"tag-topstories","29":"tag-wa-news","30":"tag-what-happens-when-you-get-struck-by-lightning","31":"tag-wild-weather"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}