Texas boy struck by lightning while playing video games
A Texas boy struck by lighting while using his computer says he's lucky to be alive.
A viral tweet asks: “Did anyone else’s parents say you couldn’t shower during a storm because you might get struck by lightning?” Well, it turns out your parents were actually right.
A Texas teenager was playing video games at his home on Tuesday during a thunderstorm when lightning struck his house, causing an electrical injury.
Harris County Constable Mark Herman said the teen was checked out by EMS but was uninjured. The constable shared a photo of a hole in the home's wall, caused by the lightning strike.
A hole was left in a family's home in Cypress, Texas after a lightning strike on July 7, 2026 (Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct 4)
"The electrical current traveled through the home's wiring, causing a small fire in the attic and electrocuting the homeowner's son while he was using a computer," Herman wrote on Facebook.
KPRC2 News interviewed 13-year-old Vlad Shuridin, who said he felt lucky to be alive.
“It was crazy. I honestly thought I was gonna die," the boy told the news station. "Anything can happen at any moment. You just got to be nice to everybody."
Lightning strikes in the Cypress, Texas area on Tuesday afternoon. In-cloud strikes are indicated by circles, positive ground strikes are shown with a + symbol, and negative ground strikes are indicated by a - symbol. (AccuWeather Lightning Network)
The AccuWeather Lightning Network detected 600 lightning strikes in the Cypress area, northwest of Houston, on Tuesday, mostly between 4 and 5 p.m. CDT. Some lightning strikes were only in the clouds, but 375 strikes hit the ground.
In 2025, a similar incident was caught on video when a gamer was struck during a livestream in North Carolina.
Lightning can travel through a house's wiring or pipes to reach the ground, AccuWeather meteorologists say. Being close to a device plugged into the wall can result in serious injury or death if lightning enters the home's electrical system. Shrapnel from walls, light fixtures and windows can also cause injury if lightning causes them to explode.
Stay away from plugged-in devices, bathrooms, metal objects and windows during a storm. The AccuWeather app can notify you of lightning in your area.
One of the best tools available on the free AccuWeather app is the Lightning Network™, which allows you to monitor lightning strikes in your area, helping to make the best weather-informed decisions.
