STRUCK BY LIGHTNING not me but almost

[rocketman]

The first time my wife and I stayed on this side of the island was in Oct. '06 during that storm. Paradise Ali Kai, right on the water. First an earthquake then the storm. Never seen or heard so much lightning and thunder. Lightning hit the next door neighbor's stone lion on his rock wall, blew pieces all over his front lawn. Didn't discourage us tho, in 2 weeks we will have lived here 4 years. Glad you are OK, terracore!

[TomK]

Yep, it was spectacular! The morning after that storm I went out on the street to check for damage and shouted over to my neighbor to see if everything was OK. She called back saying "I'm just glad to be alive!"...

[Chunkster]

The October '06 storm was spectacular, and we got 16 inches of rain in about 12 hours. Our neighbors were convinced that the lightning was exceptionally bad because the earthquake had rubbed so many rocks together that "all that static electricity had to go somewhere."

[ElysianWort]

I grew up here, so I'm quite used to the annual lightning storms. Some have gotten close than others. They can be very exciting and awe inspiring.
Like Tom I was also hit once.

It was a muggy afternoon and I could hear the bolts cracking around. It was cloudy and dark even though still daytime. I would see the flash and count the seconds till thunder and they all seemed at least 5 seconds away or more. I unplugged some electronics because there have been several occasions where appliances get fried. I picked up my cell to make a text and then suddenly there was a white flash in the house. It looked a ball of electricity for only a millisecond visible.
At that same moment a powerful shock traveled up my arm to my cell phone and it hurt bad. Made me drop the phone. There was a weird but distinct electricity smell in the house. The Thunder also came at the same time and it was so loud it shook the house.

Might explain a lot about why I am the way I am. Struck by lightning.

[Rob Tucker]

I was zapped once too.

[terracore]

"Was the tree the tallest thing around?"

It was the tallest thing within a few hundred feet.

[sistersue]

My story:
As far as the earthquake, I had been through so many in California that I only jumped up to steady my giant TV which was rocking back and forth. Other than that, I just felt sorry for Hamakua Coast where there had been some damage... BUT...That lightning storm was the most horrible thing that's ever happened to me!
I thought that storm was the day before the earthquake, but I guess it was the day after on a Monday night?
I grew up never seeing lightning. That storm in '06 was like being in Hell for 10 hours! My oldest dog(now 13)and I were traumatized and so were my daughter and granddaughter. My daughter and granddaughter huddled together in bed (it lasted from 10pm to 6am) and the little one was crying all night. The lightning was crashing all over the yard and was constant. It's a family memory that I wish we could forget.
The day after the storm, I was actually stopped in the street by a couple walking with their child, asking me if that storm was "normal" for HPP because they had just moved here from Japan and it scared them so badly that they were thinking about leaving already! I told them it's never happened before and that hopefully it was a freak thing and won't happen again on our street.
Aloha

[dayna]

It was so scary. I still am nervous to be outside not under cover when there are ominous clouds in the sky.

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[dayna]

I don't know if the link will work well, but here is the palm on fire:

https://www.facebook.com/guavaacres/vide...638081352/

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[TomK]

Welcome to the club, dayna! And yes, the link above works for me.