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Man struck by lightning while giving speech at daughter's wedding

Posted at 6:55 AM, Jul 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-13 10:40:50-04

A Canadian man was struck by lightning while giving a speech at his daughter's wedding last weekend.

JP Nadeau, of Woodstock, New Brunswick, was hit by lightning after a bolt struck somewhere behind him at his daughter's wedding on July 8, which was held in an apple orchard at his home.

Nadeau told CBC he had just complimented the groom when he was struck.

"And just as I told my new son-in-law, 'You're a lucky guy' — boom," he said.

Nadeau said he saw his hand light up when it happened.

"I had the microphone ... and my hand just lit up and I saw the spark," Nadeau told CBC this week. "And I'm looking at my hand and it's all flared up … It was like I was holding a lightning bolt in my hand, it was amazing."

He said his family thought he had been killed but when they realized he was fine, the wedding continued after about a 30-minute rain delay.

Nadeau, who is bald, joked with Woodstock's Bugle-Observer newspaper, telling a reporter, "I don't know if it will make my hair grow back."

Nadeau was left with a burn mark on his thumb, CBC reported.

Clint Davis is a reporter for the Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @MrClintDavis. Keep up to date with the latest news by following @ScrippsNational on Twitter.