Wednesday’s thunderstorm came a little too close for comfort for Greg Sommers.
The sales representative with Elite Marble and Granite was at a jobsite on Marina Drive when lightning hit the ground about 30 feet away.
‘The shock wave of the actual strike – the boom – was just so loud it kind of compresses your chest,’ he said. ‘My heart was going for about an hour after that.’
He and two other employees were working outside a house near the marina at around 3pm when they heard strange noises overhead.
‘All of a sudden there was all sorts of crackling. We all looked up and just above us – it’s hard to describe – but it looked like firecrackers going off all over the place.’
The bolt stuck near a power pole, causing a fire which was later extinguished by Fire Services.
An extensive area of low pressure covering much of the western Caribbean and Central America is causing the unsettled weather conditions.
Head of Meteorological Services Fred Sambula says to expect more of the same over the next day or two.
‘When you get a broad area of low pressure the instability is much greater and as a consequence, with the daytime heating, you will get a few more showers and increased lightning and thunder.’
Mr. Sambula said the system, which brought 1.8 inches of rain between 1pm Wednesday and 7am Thursday, has the potential to develop into a tropical depression.
‘We’re monitoring it,’ he said. ‘The good thing is that even it becomes a depression it will be so close to us that it’s highly unlikely it could develop into something dramatic.’
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