Walker County Lightning Aftermath

Scroll down to see an awesome picture of morning lightning in Huntsville from Mike Wilhelm, but I wanted to share this one that just came across ABC 33/40’s Facebook page:

Kathy Carter of Boldo (a community on Highway 69 just northeast of Jasper) posted that on the wall and said the tree struck two residences; fortunately, no one was injured. Lightning struck the tree about 6:30 AM today, and it split in half.

Most of the damage in summertime storms like these begins with trees. In general, the gusty winds in strong or severe storms this time of year do not last long enough to do significant structural damage to well-built homes and buildings, but the wind is strong enough to knock a tree onto that structure. Lightning can function the same way by either causing a fire or splitting a tree that then hits a structure. The point? Just be careful and pay attention to storms when they move in; there is no need to run to the basement or storm shelter, but you should always know where you are safest if the storm does something like this to your property. Most of the time, if you are away from windows in a substantial building, you will be fine!

-Jason
Twitter: @simpson3340
Facebook: Jason Michael Simpson

Category: Pictures