Lightning heavily damages Crotts home on Magnolia Drive, no injuries reported

A lightning strike caused extensive damage to a Magnolia Drive home Wednesday afternoon about 2:30, but no one was injured.

Lightning apparently struck the roof of the Martin Crotts residence at 300 Magnolia Drive, blowing out wall sections, demolishing ceilings and possibly cracking the brick façade of the structure.

Fire Chief Mark Whiteside said he had never seen anything approaching this level of damage from a lightning strike in his career.

None of the family were home when the strike occurred, more fortunate because the worst damage was in the children’s rooms. Whiteside said Mrs. Crotts had apparently taken the children out for a drive to calm them after the stormy weather and had just left the house when the strike occurred.

There was no fire but a hole in the roof looked like it might have been the entry point and burn marks could be seen along the roofline where a section was blown out into the yard.

Whiteside said this has been a year of unusual calls. Earlier in the afternoon firefighters were called to Jay Street where lightning had struck the gas meter at the home of Lewis Baker. He said the meter itself was heavily damaged but there was no damage to the home since the gas line only went to an exterior unit.

Earlier this year lightning apparently struck a gas meter and line on Union Hill Road, causing heavy damage to the adjacent home and travelling along the buried line to other homes.