A new respect for lightning!
Published June 25, 2006 by Robbie Allen
After my workout at the gym on Friday, I checked my vmail to find a frantic message by my wife. Apparently, our next door neighbor’s house was struck by lightning and was on fire!
My wife was upstairs in our house when it happened. She heard a loud “boom” and thought it might have been our house that was struck because it was so loud. She went outside to look at our neighbor’s house:
Yikes! She called 911 and checked to make sure no one was in the house. The homeowners pulled up shortly thereafter. I can imagine their surprise to see their house was on fire.
I rushed home, but by the time I got there the fire was already out. The Cary and Morrisville fire departments arrived within 15 minutes and put it out. They were awesome.
They cleared out the top floor of the house to ensure nothing would catch on fire after they left. They even stayed around to help us carry our neighbor’s valuables to my garage for storage. After the smoke had cleared, the 3rd floor was completely burnt up and about half of the second floor had serious smoke/fire/water damage. Most of the things stored in their attic and 3rd floor were destroyed.
It looked like a small bomb had been dropped on the roof:
My neighbors are going to be displaced for 4-6 months while their home is repaired. In a blink of an eye their whole summer was ruined (they have 3 kids to boot). It really makes you think how fragile life is!
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Robbie,
I’m glad your family and neighbors family were all safe.
I wish them luck
Juan
Carolina is a dangerous place, huh? At least 200-ton concrete ceilings don’t fall on you (http://www.boston.com/news/traffic/bigdig/articles/2006/07/12/mass_crisis_of_confidence/).
I listen to public radio: NPR. A man was interviewed about being struck by lightning and surviving. He now living with an invisable disability much like chronic fatigue.
His best recommendation to survive a lightinig storm was this:
If You Hear it, Fear it!
If you see it, Flee It!