This photo is from Google
It happened in the night of 10th September, 2005. I woke up because there was a thunderstorm brewing in the distance, I got up to close the windows, and went back to bed. Now I can say, that I was never afraid of thunder storms before, so I felt safe and went back to sleep, but not for long, for an immense crack of thunder and lightning at the same time, made me sit upright in my bed. "That's here", I thought, "my house has been struck by lightning!". I tried to make some light but all the fuses had blown. I went to the topfloor to turn off the gas of the central heating. I was barefooted and felt grit on my always clean floor. I thought:"Well tomorrow we'll see more!" I went back to bed. The next morning I noticed that all my apparatus was ruined:TV set, VCR, radio, CD recorder, not my fridge though, but all my 16 solarpanels were ruined . Fortunately my washingmachine was disconnected and a little TV set in the attic as well. I went to my neighbours and rang my daughter, for my telephone- fax machine was destroyed as well.The neighbours had also some damage. Coming outside I saw that half of my chimney had disappeared, so my daughter rang the firebrigade to remove what was left of the chimney.Of course this didn't go by unnoticed and many people from neighbouring streets came to see what was going on. All of a sudden I was"famous". When I went shopping, people started asking, if my chimney had been fixed already. And when some one wanted my address I said: "It's the house with the chimney.." Then they knew where it was!
Recently I had again solar panels installed and I wanted them to be protected against thunderstorms, so last Saturday I got a lightning conductor. Hopefully everything is now really safe!!
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54 comments:
What a scary thing to happen, reader wil. I too love thunderstorms - as a child I used to stand in the window watching the rain drops hit the pavement and bounce back - my mother used to call them "dancing fairies" - I always thought this was an excellent way of making me unafraid of storms.
Lightening is not a joke! You seem to have nbeen lucky to have escaped a fire.
So far we have lost only three modems (very sensitive)in the old days and one freezer (at our cottage), but one never knows. Luckily all the cables are in the ground.
Scary, indeed! Such incredible power just darting down from the sky. No wonder the ancients imagined Zeus or Thor hurling lightning bolts.
Wow, what a great sky shot, Wil! And what a scary story. I hope you were covered by insurance for your losses. I don't like severe thunder storms. They are always very scary to me. I do have some big trees surrounding the house, and they say the trees are like lightning rods. However, I'm not sure about that.
Good thing is that it wasn't even worse, and that you weren't injured.
Kindest regards,
Renie
Wow, what a frightening thing to have happen. Hope you had insurance to cover all the losses. I guess your house is now a local landmark.
I have wondered about solar panels in bad storms and whether lightening or hail stones would be a problem. I guess so. Hope the new precautions work.
Stay safe.
Oi, that was a bad night for your house. But thank God you were not hurt.
I admired the great picture and then read your story. That was a frightening experience. I'm glad you were okay and that your home did ot catch fire.
The only thing more extraordinary than your photo is the story of your ordeal. So, did you fix your chimney yet? :-D
Wow that pic is heart stopping, wow.
Have a great weekend.
Guy
Regina In Pictures
Never afraid untill it happens to yourself, that's how it is, this power of nature is so immense. And the photo is spectacular.
That is a scary story! I love thunderstorms, but have to admit I wouldn't want to get that closely acquainted with one. The shot is breathtaking! Glad you weren't harmed! Take care and have a great weekend!
That's a brilliant shot and lightning can be so scary. I've always loved thunderstorms but I gained a new respect for them in 1978 when I had a similar experience to yours. Very scary and sobering.
Wil....I have a story of my own about this that happened this past December. It is a scary thing indeed!
Huggies,
Carol
Wow, this is a great lightening shot!
that's a terrifying experience. i'm scared of lightning and thunder to be begin with so, wow.
It certainly is a nice shot of lightening.
The Hamlet of Gordon, Ohio
Scary experience...glad you were kept safe...amazing you could get back to sleep...great google photo...
you are the second person i know whose home/house was struck by lightning. indeed you are very lucky you were not injured as a result of that strike. glad to hear you've installed a lightning rod...
thanks for sharing...an interesting but at the same time not nice thing to happen read.
take care and have a good weekend.
erin
Great story! Glad you are safe!
I have always wanted to capture lightening. All photographers do. Thank you for the link,very informative. It is spectacular but as so dangerous too.
That is so very scrary. I am sorry for all the damage but am glad you were not hurt. Lightning struck my sister-in-law's home two years ago and her house caught on fire. It did a lot of damage but again they weren't hurt so we were all thankful. Have a great weekend.
I am so pleased you were not hurt, but what a scarey encounter! I have never in my life heard anything like the thunder and lightening in Darwin.It woke me in the early hours of the morning with a terrifying noise.Made me white with fear - closest I'd imagine to being in the trenches!
That is scary.
Teaches me a few lessons, to disconnect electrical appliances at night. Glad you are safe.
A scary experience indeed. Glad you yourself was safe.
I remember a few years back being in an airplane above Toronto and the plane was struck by lightning. We lost altitude and the noise was deafening...afterward you could have heard a pin drop as everyone was waiting to see if we would make it. We did but it also put a damper on flying for me :)
Wow!
You sport with the gods, Wil!!
Aloha, prometheus
Moet akelig zijn om mee te maken dat de bliksem op je woning inslaat. Hopelijk behoord dat nu tot de verleden tijd.
Groetjes
Wowee!! You really got hit with lightening. So scary as an aftermath. MB
Wow it is best not to use any electrical appliances during a thunder storm. I took a video of a fast lightning recently but was scared after that...lol.
Thats quite scary..recently there was a thunderstorm and I suddenly saw the lights in the neighbouring apartment get switched off..for a moment, i didnt pay attention until I saw bright sparks ..no fire thankfully
Whoa, what an amazing story!!!
I love lightning storms, I have all my life and when one pops up, I'm usually out there enjoying the sights and the sounds... it is beautiful but to hear this is pretty frightening... I hope the new rod helps for future storms!!
Hugs♥
Your experience with lighting is enough to make anyone leary of an impending storm. Beware of Mother nature when she is on a rampage! Spectacular photo, Wil. Have a nice weekend :)
That is a beautiful lightening bolt! Beautiful but scary!!! Happy SWF!
What a lot of exitement! I hope your appliances were insured.
We've had our house on the mountain has been struck a number of times, knocking down the chimney stacks, fusing the telephone bu the bed and locking me into a Faraday cage. The last was rather uncomfortable.
You went back to sleep after that? Amazing.
That's an awesome photo. What power!
Wow that was a close call you had and to lose all those things too! I worry about that quite a bit here with all the big storms we get in tornado alley!
Great capture!!...too close for comfort though!! What a scare!
Wil kom je een fijn wekend wensen, en hopelijk moeten we dit weekend niet vrezen voor donder en bliksem.
Groetjes
Amazing photo. And very scary, too for the people who were near.
Oh No!!!!!!! Amazing you were alright.
There is a saying, lightning doesn't strike twice. There is hope for you.
In Singapore, there are a lot of tropical storms. When we travel, we always empty the freezer and fridge, in case the lightning trip our power.
Once our poor gold fish. We forgot about the power pump. Poor Ah Teck (name of the fish) died and my fish sitter who came in the afternoon was very apologetic. Ah Teck was already very old sickly. We told her not to worry.
What an incredible experience, must be very scary. Hope you are well protected now.
I think lightening is mysteriously fascinating but also very very scary for me personally. So glad you are okay and hope the insurance can help out with the cost of repairs.
What a frightful experience. I have always been afraid of lightning, I guess it is a phobia I have, but I have overcome it a lot in the last 20 years. But, I still respect it.
Yes, lightening is a scary thing. I've tried telling our youngest Granddaughter, don't worry about the thunder, it's the lightening you have to worry about. I hope your insurance covered everything that was damaged.
Wow, that's a story here Wil. I'm also sometimes worried when the lightning's are intense, who knows what damage it can bring us. Hoe gaat het? am now back blogging.
Wow, that was a scary, dangerous, and destructive lightning strike. i'm glad you've got better lightning protection now.
Is hier wel een grijze lucht maar kom je toch een zonnige dag wensen.
Groetjes
Good idea to get that lightining conductor! with so many storms in Holland in the winter! Good that you are not afraid of thunder and lightning!
Hi R Wil,
Great shot although its made by google but fine anyhow.
visit my blog to see my sky and Photo-exibition, wich is coming soon,
JoAnn/Holland
( heb nog steeds geen PC dus zonuendan via anderen kan ik eens op internet sorry)
It is a scary experience.
I thank God you are safe. All the best
De zon komt hier af en toe van tussen de wolken kijken, dus is dan toch al beter dan gisteren.
Groetjes
Being borne in Kerala/India, we are also used to such lightening strikes. We used to get many of our coconut trees burnt during such thunderstorms. And in the good old days of very high TV antenna, they were easy target too. The north west monsoon in Kerala is famous for such thunderstorms and many people still die. It is high time awareness is created on this. Thanks for sharing your own experience.
What a story. Really frightening it must have been. Expensive too. I don't know if there is a fascility to get compensation for thunder damage in your country from the insurance companies but here there is not. So called 'acts of god' are not compensated.
I'm glad to hear you have installed protective measures as the thing about lightning is that it does on occaisions strike twice.
Makes me shudder to think about it.
I was in a plane flying to Connecticut one October...and saw lightening like that outside my window...YIKES! I thought I would faint..the pilots were trying to go around the storm and succeeded I guess. I'm still here..but..flying and electic storms are NOT my favorite things!
~smiles~
Mona
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