Lightning strike hurls exchange student into Houston reflecting pool

A 25-year-old exchange student visiting Texas from India is in critical condition from being struck by lightning and hurled into a nearby reflecting pool.

Susroonya Koduru was walking near a small body of water at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site in Houston when she was struck by lightning around 5:40 p.m. on July 2, Thomas Gilliland of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office told the Tri-City Herald this week.

Koduru was either struck directly or received the effects of a direct hit on a nearby tree, officials explained to KTRK.

Koduru’s male companion, 27, later said that he woke up on the ground and found his friend in the reflecting pool 10 to 15 feet away, according to the Tri-City Herald.

The man and another bystander dragged the young student from the water and started performing CPR, the outlet said.

Nearly three weeks later, Koduru remains in the hospital.

It took first responders 20 minutes to revive her, Koduru’s cousin Surendra Kotha wrote on a GoFundMe set up to help the family with medical expenses.

“Subsequently, she suffered devastating brain damage and went into a coma,” the distressed relative explained.

“Currently, she is unable to breathe on her own and is needing ventilator support with a tracheostomy and has a PEG tube to support nutrition while waiting for any return of brain function. 

“Susroonya needs aggressive and prolonged care to give her any hope of realizing her dreams to be a successful independent woman.”

As of Thursday morning, the fundraiser has raked in over $129,000 of its $400,000 goal.

At the time of the horrific accident, Koduru was a Master’s student in information technology at the University of Houston.

Koduru’s loved ones are also trying to raise funds for her parents to travel from India to Texas in order to be with their daughter, Kotha told ABC13.

“Her parents are lower middle class, and we are working on their visas to get them to the U.S.,” she said. 

“They should have the privilege to her, and if she feels their presence, her brain may react well. That’s why we thought of bringing them.”

Six people have died from lightning strikes in the US so far this year, according to the National Weather Service.

Among those fatalities is Grayson Boggs, 6, who succumbed to his injuries last month weeks after the same blast instantly killed his father.

Grayson was holding his father Matthew’s hand when they were struck by lightning in the driveway of their home in Valley Mills, Central Texas.