Lightning

Our house got struck by lightning on Tuesday afternoon so I've been a little busy taking care of things. We got incredibly lucky because the house did not catch on fire. I was home and watching tv when it happened. A nasty storm moved in and I heard some thunder that sounded nearby so I figured I better turn off the big electrical things. I shut the laptop and was just about to stand up and walk 6 feet across the room to an outlet and unplug the tv when it struck. It was crazy loud and there was a massive flash. I thought someone called in an air strike. The lightning came through the wall and left a hole about the size of a .22 round. It burned the wall, blew some drywall mud and paint off from around the window and split a 1" oak sill lengthwise. Later, I also found drywall mud and paint gone from an upstairs bedroom wall.

The LCD flat screen tv is no more and neither is a laptop, all the satelite tv equipment and wiring and DVD recorder. So now we're dealing with insurance people on getting those things replaced. I hope this is not going to be a painful process. I would think that there's little room for arguing when it comes to lightning but we'll find out on Monday when the adjuster gets here. A repairman came by today and said he recommended replacing all the above things. With grad school, getting ready for this race, and taking care of last minute details for my wedding on the 21st, this is definitely not helping. Although, I suppose there's never a good time for lightning to strike your house. I'm incredibly fortunate that the house didn't get burned down and that no one was hurt. It was a weird experience. It's strange how some things got fried and some seem fine...for now. The electrician said that with lightning, things go seem perfectly normal now and then take a dump 2 weeks from now.

Now I know that Colorado is the second highest state in the US for lightning damage. The first? Florida.

We think this is where it came out:


Don't know what happened here.