It ain't the volts it's the amps. Nevertheless I would imagine there was considerable amperage involved.
in which G, the conductance, is 1/R, and V = 33kV, we get 1.089 MW into Mr. Copperman. Of course, that's assuming no line drop, and it's also assuming no increase in resistance over time due to the... ahem... loss of conductance that would occur as Mr. Copperman's bodily fluids ah... outgassed.
On the other hand, he may have been ingulfed by a huge arc, in which case the resistance would have been much lower, just a few ohms. In that circumstance, the power dissipated could have been much higher, many megawatts. It's hard to imagine how he could have been alive more than a few milliseconds though.
Precisely. I've been hit by 30,000 volts. Common in old TV sets, especially in the cool red wire thingy that plugs into the side of the tube.
#: )
Nevertheless I would imagine there was considerable amperage involved.
Of that we can be sure. However both the general public and media 'reporters' are so narrowly educated that it is just easier to boil things down to those with the highest 'shock' value (see, I can pun), in order to sell laundry detergent.
30,000 Volts is more 'exciting' than 100 amps.