Destructive bolt hits NS home
Judy Ebanks points to damaged ceiling in her daughter’s room. Photo: Jewel Levy |
All it took was a split second for lightning to cause major damage to a North Side resident’s home Wednesday evening.
Not only did it destroy part of the roof, but the bolt travelled through the ceiling, tore away the sheet rock in the daughter’s room, travelled on downstairs to the living room, ripped away that the ceiling, split a cement column at the top and ended up zapping the hand of owner Billy Ebanks who was at the time trying to close a downstairs window to keep out the rain.
‘All I heard was a great big bang and then something burned my hand. When I looked through the window all I saw was pieces of roofing debris falling to the ground.
‘The smoke detector then went off; I ran up the stairs and saw some smoke so I pulled out the insulation just in case it started a fire.’
Mr. Ebanks said he then called 911 and a fire truck was dispatched to his home.
When he returned downstairs he noticed that the lightning had come through the ceiling and damaged the column in the sitting room right alongside a settee where the family usually watches television.
‘It all happened so quick; one second was all it took,’ said Mr. Ebanks.
‘After the officers checked to be sure that no fires were burning anywhere, they advised us to call in an electrician to see if we had any damaged wires.
‘I have not seen anything like that in recent years,’ said Mr. Ebanks.
He said he did hear of one incident in North Side where lightning had travelled through a telephone line and went into a home, but that was a long time ago.
Judy, Billy’s wife, said she was just thankful that the family was not hurt even though the lightning caused so much damage.
The family had just completed renovations needed after Hurricane Ivan.
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