What A Storm!!

[ncof300d]

What a night! We had a small, but very, very strong storm cell move through last night in the very northwest corner of Ohio. I had been outside roofing a shed that I am building and when I came inside about 7:30pm my older son was telling me about severe storm warnings on the TV. I rather ignored it as we have been in drought and every time there has been a 'chance' of rain nothing has come of it. My wife had been gone for the evening and about 9:00pm she arrived home. A few minutes after she pulled it the rain came down hard and there was a lot of lightening. She told that she would not tell me how fast she was driving her E300 to get home because she was in the beginning of this storm and had been listening to the weather band in the car telling of the severity. I went downstairs to disconnect our wireless internet connection. My younger son was downstairs playing video games and I told him that I was going to disconnect the internet line. He was starting to walk by me and BANG a bolt of lightning struck. When the bolt struck I had the cable to the internet connection in my hand. It was disconnected from the modem and I had a hold of the cable by the shielding, but that did not matter......I took a hard hit of lightning! My son said he saw an arc. I did not see anything. I just felt as much electricity run through my arm and chest as I would guess most people could take and still live.
After my 'enlightenment' I went upstairs to hear hail that sounded as if it was coming through the house. I turned on the front like to see the yard filling with hail no smaller that a marble and as big as a golf ball. An east wind was battering the hail at our front door. Man, what a sound! I could see the stress of the force on the door. I was expecting it to break open any moment. I have two cars in the garage and two cars and a truck parked outside. I imagined that what was outside now had dented bodies and broken glass.
After the storm I went outside with a flash light to find both of the cars with numerous light dents and all glass intact. (My neighbor has several cars outside and all of them lost their windshields.) The vinyl siding on the east side of the house is broken with scores of holes. Our garage door also faces the east side and it looks as if someone threw hundreds of rocks at it.
The crops around us are shredded. Trees and limbs blown down. I was on a stretch of road that has so many leaves on it that it was hard to find any pavement. The grass is beat down.
That was the evening of July 26, 2006 in Farmer, Ohio. This morning I am still a bit achy in my arms and chest.

[David Thornton]

I am glad you were not hurt.
We had a similar day last month, and I am still getting roof claims daily. Worse the roving repair guys are all over the place, some taking deposits and then following the storms to another part of the country never to be seen.

[sorcererdale]

That just happened up here too a few weeks ago. There are numerous car repair places that are offering hail damage repair, a paint-less method, and people lined up at special insurance claims places. So check your insurance. I am glad you are ok, I recommend getting and APC UPS which guarantees replacement if damage occurs.

DALE.

[CactusJack]

Glad to hear every one is okay..

[Splash_4]

Ummm, I didn't know that my limbs needed a surge protector as well.


Glad everything worked out for you though, things can be repaired/replaced, but you can't!

[Big Paul]

Glad to hear you and yours are OK!

Drink Gatorade, it helps to replace the electrolites that get zapped when you got zapped.. I've been electrocuted a couple times... none of which were my fault..

[emolas]

Don't know if it applies to lightning strikes but when I got zapped with AC, I was told by my doctor to get an EKG because the electricity can imperceptibly disrupt the rhythm of the heart and you can have a heart attack up to a month later. Good to hear everything's alright though and I hope that storm doesn't come my way.

[Hachiman]

Don't know if it applies to lightning strikes but when I got zapped with AC, I was told by my doctor to get an EKG because the electricity can imperceptibly disrupt the rhythm of the heart and you can have a heart attack up to a month later. Good to hear everything's alright though and I hope that storm doesn't come my way.

My father was an electrician and received 450v across his chest... which we blame for his heart attack only a few months later. I strongly support the suggestion that you get yourself checked out - if for no other reason than to reassure everyone that you're ok.

Still, it's good to know that you're otherwise ok

cheers
Hachiman