topic Re: LIGHTING STRIKES in Community Chat

LIGHTING STRIKES

Pink123 — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 20:49:22 GMT

Has anyone here ever had their home been struck by lightning?

OMG, I was right here typing on this chatroom about 3 pm.

It started to rain and then thunder was coming. I did see a strike about a week ago on the water behind our home right in the back yard. It shook the house too. I thought, boy that was a narrow escape.

Well I was on a topic and all of a sudden "BOOM"!! and everythomg went dark, alarms in the house were beeping like crazy.

I ran and turned those off. I thought ok, wifi will come back as probably the whole block probably is off so someone must have called for service.

Wrong. It was our house. Just us. He's out of town on business so I'm alone. It was day time and so I just kept checking to see if Wifi would come back on. I had no television, phone not working, nothing. I turned on mobile data but it doesn't work in the house.

It get's dark, I said well I'm going to bed early and I try to turn on the light's "high hat's" above the bed and no lights. Then I look at a clock on the bedroom dresser and it's dark. I said oh no, the electrical is off too. I went around the rooms and they were off.

So I said I'll worry about this in the morning, the cable guy couldn't come until this morning early so I was stuck.

First thing I tripped the box and got most of my lights on.

My BF got an electrician in here yesterday afternoon to check.

So this morning cable guy comes. He said your router is not blown. I need to go outside. It's on the side of the house near me (I'm on second floor) and guess what? The thunder hit the cable box! I just knew it, so close it was.

Well obviously I'm typing so glad to be back. The 2 days were quiet, a time for reflection, reading, working on a jigsaw puzzle and going to bed early. (face was still red from laser anyway) and I got through it.

Has this happened to anyone else or a similar experience? I have to be honest and I'm a little shaky with the thunder now. We just had another thunder shower BTW. (I said, oh no, not again)

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

On It — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 20:18:13 GMT

My mother had a bad experience with lightning.. It struck the utility pole that brought power into her home. The charge traveled down the wire into her attic. Fire broke out in the attic and damaged the two guest rooms and the guest bath. The entire house was smoke damaged.

Lightening scares me to death.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

ROMARY — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 20:34:02 GMT

My first thought was the song Lightning Striking Again.......by Lou Christie. I'm hearing that song in my mind.....

Anyway......Yes. On a plane in the middle of the night.

Single large jet engine position at the back of the plane.

Years ago, lightning all around our plane. Way too much turbulence, people were praying.

OMGosh........We were plain lucky to make a safe landing.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

Pink123 — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 20:41:57 GMT

OMG @On It I feel your Mom's pain. but a fire that almost brought the house down? Glad she is ok now though. Yike!

It's scary (I never was before this)

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

Pink123 — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 20:46:29 GMT

Wow @ROMARY that's a really scary one too, especially up in the air. Geez. More OCD just developed. lol. (but maybe not, ha)

I don't know if thisi s a rumor but I read that the rubber tires on car's stop us from getting fried by thunder. No sure again if this is true.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

Trailrun23 — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 21:10:31 GMT

We had a six year-old boy and his father struck by lightning a couple of weeks ago during a severe thunderstorm. The father was walking his two sons back from the school bus stop. The six year-old was holding his father's hand and the lighting bolt struck the father and traveled into the six year-old, killing them both. His other son, who is 8, was not hurt since he was walking ahead and not holding his dad's hand.
lightning can happen with or without hearing thunder, and the " silent lightning" can be the most deadly since most don't know it is nearby.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

ROMARY — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 20:54:28 GMT

p.s. Since my experience, I would never (and haven't) again fly in a single back engine jet plane.

'Just in case' power is lost (due to lightning, etc.) in that one huge back engine.

Just sayin'.........

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

Cakers3 — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 21:56:31 GMT

@Trailrun23 wrote:
We had a six year-old boy and his father struck by lightning a couple of weeks ago during a severe thunderstorm. The father was walking his two sons back from the school bus stop. The six year-old was holding his father's hand and the lighting bolt struck the father and traveled into the six year-old, killing them both. His other son, who is 8, was not hurt since he was walking ahead and not holding his dad's hand.
lightning can happen with or without hearing thunder, and the " silent lightning" can be the most deadly since most don't know it is nearby.

@Trailrun23 The six year old (Grayson)died a month later in the hospital. He was in a coma the whole time and declared brain dead.

The eleven year old (Elijah) rolled them over and at first thought it was a joke until he saw his Dad's head was bleeding and his face was purple.

That poor child to have witnessed his Dad deceased. Grayson was unconscious but still breathing.

Very sad tragedy.😢

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

SilleeMee — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 22:25:51 GMT

My house was struck by lightning. It came up from the ground into my house and fried every piece of electronic devices which were plugged into the wall....and that was nearly everything including my big Tv, my laptop, wifi router, desktop, phones, garage door opener motor, clocks, stereo, satellite box...probably more. It took weeks to get everything replaced and fixed. I was w/o internet, phone and Tv for almost a month. Worst thing I have ever gone through.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

SilleeMee — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 22:37:51 GMT

One of my friend's house burned to ground after being hit by lightning. It came into her house through the roof, left a huge hole on it's way in and then made a b-line directly to her fridge which then turned it into a bomb. Fridge exploded into a giant ball of fire that the neighbors who live miles away could see the sky light up from the explosion. Fire department is far from where the house was and by the time they got there it was too late.

Get, this...her house has been hit by lightning many times, burned down trees and some swatches of land. She even put a lightning rod on top of the house but that didn't help with the last incident unfortunately.

After all of that, she rebuilt her house on the exact same spot! I told her not to buy a new bed with one of those brass frames with posts on it!

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

songbird — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 23:17:37 GMT

Happened to me when I was small (in Italy) There was a violent thunderstorm. I remembered how the house shook. Anyway we all (our family) looked out the window and we saw a bolt of lightning looking like ball of fire roll down the street and hit a tree on the corner. Never forgot it. It cut the tree in half. It stood there a long time before they removed it. The light from the strike was blinding.

The most dangerous time for a storm is the very beginning (before it rains) and oddly enough....towards the ending. That's when tornadoes usually appear.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

CatsyCline — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 23:43:18 GMT

i saw live lightning bolts when i was stuck in traffic couple years ago. the air crackled and they came up from the ground on the shoulder of the highway. the flashes were this eerie electric blue/white stripe. it was wild - they were so bright they glowed. maybe 20 ft away.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

sugarbee — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 23:55:07 GMT

I have had four experiences so far in my life. Years ago, lightning came into a family room ceiling light, whirled around and went back out again. The light fixture was byond repair and was not on at the time.

While looking out at a storm, lightning struck straight down into the ground in my back yard - looked just like lightning that is drawn in a cartoon.

While driving in my little VW lighnting hit the hood of the car and bounced off

Lightning hit a tree in my son's back yard, bounced off and hit the side of the house. Damaged the siding and then ran along the carpet inside the house blowing out all the appliances. Thankfully, did not start a fire.

I enjoy watching storms but lightning is so very dangerous.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

Pink123 — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:13:10 GMT

@Trailrun23 wrote:
We had a six year-old boy and his father struck by lightning a couple of weeks ago during a severe thunderstorm. The father was walking his two sons back from the school bus stop. The six year-old was holding his father's hand and the lighting bolt struck the father and traveled into the six year-old, killing them both. His other son, who is 8, was not hurt since he was walking ahead and not holding his dad's hand.
lightning can happen with or without hearing thunder, and the " silent lightning" can be the most deadly since most don't know it is nearby.

I'm so sorry for your family @Trailrun23 . It's so hard to believe such a tragey. God bless.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

YouGoGirl1 — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:40:50 GMT

I worked with a man that told his story about

what happened when lighting struck in his

upstairs bedroom window, as he was sleeping in his bed, it burnt the bed at the bottom, fried everything that was electric in the house. It was pretty scary. I also remember reading a story years ago in Time Magazine about a man that was

deaf and blind and was struck by lighting

and it brought back his sight and hearing.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

PA Mom-mom — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:52:09 GMT

@Pink123 Quite an ordeal, but it looks like you are going to be able to recover. To answer your question, yes, when I was still in college and living part time at my parent's house. We were in the dining room, and lightning hit the plumbing in the living room wall. Suddenly a hole was blown in the wall, plaster flew everywhere and a fireball exploded out of the wall and rolled across the living room floor. It dissipated in a lot of sparks dancing all over the floor. That was it. We lost power; but, this was before all the newer electronics that could now be ruined. Kind of exciting.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

PA Mom-mom — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 01:23:27 GMT

@SilleeMee A friend of ours, who seems to know about these things, told us it's not what's above the ground, but what is below the ground that attracts lightning. He said it has to do with the mineral content of the rocks and how close they are to the surface. I have no idea if this is correct, but our family home was hit, and surrounding trees have been hit many times.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

Pink123 — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 01:15:09 GMT

@songbird wrote:
Happened to me when I was small (in Italy) There was a violent thunderstorm. I remembered how the house shook. Anyway we all (our family) looked out the window and we saw a bolt of lightning looking like ball of fire roll down the street and hit a tree on the corner. Never forgot it. It cut the tree in half. It stood there a long time before they removed it. The light from the strike was blinding.

The most dangerous time for a storm is the very beginning (before it rains) and oddly enough....towards the ending. That's when tornadoes usually

@songbird That's exactly when it happened, at the beginning of the rain maybe 2 minutesl, then boom.

At least for me it did.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

Pink123 — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 01:22:23 GMT

@sugarbee wrote:
I have had four experiences so far in my life. Years ago, lightning came into a family room ceiling light, whirled around and went back out again. The light fixture was byond repair and was not on at the time.

While looking out at a storm, lightning struck straight down into the ground in my back yard - looked just like lightning that is drawn in a cartoon.

While driving in my little VW lighnting hit the hood of the car and bounced off

Lightning hit a tree in my son's back yard, bounced off and hit the side of the house. Damaged the siding and then ran along the carpet inside the house blowing out all the appliances. Thankfully, did not start a fire.

I enjoy watching storms but lightning is so very dangerous.

@haddon9 hey, I enjoy it too when I'm home which I was right her typing.

I love the rainy days, reading a book under the covers but I did not expect this. Oh my goodness.

However, once more, learning to be peaceful without any device took 2 days and sure enough when I was just used to it, it was back on maybe much to my chagrin.

Re: LIGHTING STRIKES

LizzieInSRQ — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 01:33:45 GMT

45 years ago lightening struck my brother's rental while they were at work and daycare. Caused a fire, destroyed everything they had, even electrocuted the fish in the fish tank. What the smoke and fire didnt ruin, the water the firefighters used did. They lost everything, every single bit, but they had very little as they were in their early 20s. I was around 8 years old and they had to come to our house to live for a bit. It was a sad, tough time. Glad to be alive but devastated.

I am glad you are ok and safe!!!