3 injured when lightning hits rodeo grounds

A cowboy and two spectators were taken by ambulance to a Hamilton hospital Saturday night after lightning hit a power pole at the Elite Bull Connection, sending an electric shock through the grandstands, rodeo chutes and bull pens. “It hit that one light pole and came down, and everything was so wet, it went in every direction,” said Cal Ruark, the Bull-O-Rama’s chairman. “I’m telling you what. It was deafening almost when it hit.” Miraculously, everyone survived the lightning’s strike, he said. “Everyone is accounted for, and as far as we know there is nothing life-threatening at this point. Thank goodness. That’s the important thing.” All three people taken to Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital were alert and conscious when they were loaded into ambulances, Ruark said. Sixty bull riders and probably 1,000 spectators were in the rodeo arena and grandstands when a thunderstorm rolled in from the south and pummeled Darby, drenching the grounds. Then came the lightning. One bolt struck directly across the river. The second strike hit the Bull-O-Rama. The strike was so sudden, Ruark said. “We had only bucked two bulls of 60. We were just getting started.” The injured bull rider was standing on the back of a metal chute, awaiting his ride. The injured spectators were in the grandstands. One of the rodeo announcers also suffered a burn to his hand, where he was holding the microphone in the middle of the wet arena...more