A Riske Creek couple purchased a new TV Tuesday after theirs died when lightning struck eerily close to their home Monday evening.
Kathy Lauriente-Bonner said she and her husband Lynn were sitting in the living room watching a storm coming in.
“It didn’t seem any different, we get lots of storms,” she told the Tribune. “We heard it grumbling in the distance, but it did not seem major and we did not think anything of it.”
All of a sudden, there was a huge crack of lightning that lit up the whole sky.
“It must have been right, right over the house because the thunder crack was immediate and it shook the whole house. All the windows rattled and then the next thing you know, out of the side of our TV was this big sizzling and a really loud pop.”
Lauriente-Bonner said it reminded her of how incandescent light bulbs used to explode.
“It was like that times one hundred. It was this huge big sizzling pop and a major flash of white light came out of the side of the TV. Lynn and I were both sitting here looking at each other. First we were shocked by the massive boom and rattle of the lightning strike and then to see the TV light up on the side.”
She ran around and unplugged everything else and then the sky opened up and there was a massive downpour for about 10 or 15 minutes.
Read more: Massive lightning storm passes over B.C.’s Elk Valley
There were a few more cracks of lightning and much to her surprise, they didn’t lose power.
Scary and eerie, is how she described the experience of having lightning come so close.
“I don’t know, it might have even hit the house for all we know. It shook the house really good. We have a tin roof but couldn’t see anything when we looked at it later from the yard.”
They have power bars for the computer and other things, but picked another one up when they went into Williams Lake to get the new TV.
“Our big mistake was that we didn’t have power surge power bars, but I’ve read about them too and even they will say they are not fool-proof. I was talking to the guy at Andre’s today and he said if the lightning was that powerful it wouldn’t have done anything anyways.”
Read more: ‘When thunder roars, go indoors’: How to keep safe before lightning
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