At one point I lived in an apt on the second floor that had pretty badly “installed” electric wiring running all around the walls of the room.
One day, during a thunder storm a bit of lightening jumped through my window and ran all around the room on that wiring.
As my friend said at the time, it looked like “evil marmalade”.
Over in a second or two, but pretty scary.
The engine cut out instantly. I got out to check what had happened.
The alternator and starter coils had "melted".
I took off the alternator and disconnected the starter ~ pulled it out and stuck it in the backseat or the trunk ~ one of the two.
Wired things through to the battery so I had lights and a windshield wiper. Pushed the car a bit along the hill until it was rolling on its own, jumped in, and started the engine through the mechanical linkage with the wheels.
Made it all the way home to Arlington VA where I parked the car in a flood prone area.
Once everything had dried out about a month later I DXd both the starter and the alternator. There were other reports of ball lightning in the area as that storm passed through.
I haven't seen anthing like it since.
So, yeah, something that will melt copper coils can probably kill you.