Crews clean up mess left by lightning strike
Crews are cleaning up a home that was hit by lightning last night.
'The house shook, it was like a bomb going off.' Bill Grooten says his next-door neighbor's home got hit by lightning on Blue Water Circle.
'We were just chatting and then that storm hit, holy gees.' The homeowner told us he was inside his Waterford Lakes residence when lightning struck, prompting him to run outside for safety.
Overwhelmed by the experience, he was unable to speak on camera.
Drone 9 showed us extensive damage, so we decided to talk to experts about how to protect your home from lightning fires like this one.
'The only thing you can do for a direct strike is install lightning rods. They're placed on the apex of the roof, they're low profile,' said William Burden of WB Lightning Rods.
Burden continues, 'The rods are around 12 inches tall and cost several thousand dollars. They're hooked up to a heavy copper conductor cable that runs through all of them. They go straight to the ground, 10 feet deep into the ground, in various locations.'
'To be directly hit by lightning is relatively rare, but lightning hitting your home can also do a lot of damage,' says Channel 9's Certified Chief Meteorologist Tom Terry.
He further states that power companies can install surge arrestor devices on meters to stop surges from entering a home. 'And then if it gets past that, that's where your power strips come in. Make sure you have all your electronics hooked up to these.'
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
FORECAST: Temperatures expected to reach nearly 90 degrees as heat continues to build
ABOVE: The latest forecast update from Severe Weather Center 9. To stay on top of changing weather conditions, be sure to download our free WSOC-TV weather app. FORECAST: The building of more heat could lead to isolated thunderstorms. Storms are trying to get going, and we will see a few, but not as many as we had yesterday. Meanwhile, rain chances drop off dramatically tomorrow, and that will allow the heat to push us to near 90 degrees. Rain opportunities will pick up again by the end of the week and into the weekend. >> Channel 9's Weather 24/7 stream has the latest local weather all day, every day. Watch wherever you stream — on our website, or through your mobile app or smart TV. WEATHER RESOURCES: WSOC Weather 24/7 Interactive Radar Download our weather app for Severe Weather Alerts Hour-by-Hour Forecast 7-Day Forecast FOLLOW OUR TEAM ON X: Chief Meteorologist John Ahrens Meteorologist Keith Monday Meteorologist Joe Puma Meteorologist Danielle Miller
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
More people are experiencing homelessness this year, PIT Count shows
The Point-in-Time Count for Mecklenburg County shows more people are experiencing homelessness this year than they were last year, but efforts to solve the problem are also ramping up. The results of the count show there are over 2,400 people experiencing homelessness in Mecklenburg County. Of those, 444 are unsheltered. That is a 16% increase from last year and the highest unsheltered count since 2010. Channel 9's Eli Brand spoke to Jessica Lefkowitz, the executive director for Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition, about what these numbers mean for the community. The organization helped lead the count for the last two years. She says the actual unhoused count is likely higher than the numbers show because it was taken during the winter. 'It's something I think we should all think about with this year's point in time count is that it was like 17 or 18 degrees,' Lefkowitz said. 'So, we definitely didn't capture the real, true number because there might have been people in a hotel for the night instead of outside in that extreme weather.' Earlier this month, Mecklenburg County Council passed their budget for 2026. ALSO READ >> Mecklenburg County to vote on new budget It included around $27 million for nonprofits and mental health services. Even with the added funds, Lefkowitz said many nonprofits are still concerned since money they depend on from the American Rescue Plan Act is set to expire. 'We have businesses that are obviously impacted by the unhoused,' she said. 'If they could put some investment into this work, I think we could also help them.' Over the last two years, Heart for the Invisible said they have been able to get 214 people into permanent housing. VIDEO: 'Nowhere to go': Owner asks for community's help after her restaurant catches fire, closes
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
‘Do your job': Family sues over FDOT, Orlando construction projects
Hurricane season has just started, but some families in the Orlando area are still living through the aftermath of last year's storms. In the Wadeview and Delaney Park neighborhoods, there were days of constant flooding in 2024, causing homes to be underwater – and now, some homeowners are fighting back. 'It's like PTSD. We really feel like shaky, just even going back to that place and reliving those motions of what we were going through,' said Stephen Harrison, whose family had just moved to a new home on Kaley Avenue around August OF 2024. Only Channel 9 was allowed back into their home on Monday, about nine months after the powerful Labor Day Weekend storm last September led to a consistent stream of water flowing through the family's hallways. 'It's been a difficult process,' said Anne Zorn-Harrison. 'How can you not prepare for an event like that when we live in Central Florida, and we see hurricanes that drop loads of water? Tropical storms leave loads of water?' The Harrisons' backyard now looks nothing like it did last September, and the family said it took months—and a lot of money they didn't have—to get it back to normal. Nine months later, they say the work is not done yet. 'Still a lot of repairs we still need to do,' said Stephen, pointing at the repair marks that still linger in his hallway. Channel 9 has now learned the family is suing two companies responsible for the resurfacing project on South Orange and Delaney Avenue. Hubbard Construction, hired by FDOT to lead the South Orange resurfacing construction, and Gibbs and Register, hired by the City of Orlando and OUC to install improvements along Delaney Avenue, are both defendants in the legal action. The suit claims both companies failed to take measures to prevent flooding while working on the projects, leading up to the damage from 2024. 'The proper measures were not taken in order to prevent exactly such an event as this from occurring,' said Stephen Smith, an attorney representing the Harrisons. 'It's storm season in Florida. This is not unprecedented, regardless of what anyone may claim.' In 2024, Channel 9 took the community's concern straight to City Hall to ask Public Works about the ongoing initiatives to ensure the neighborhoods are equipped to deal with flooding. READ: Flooding fallout: Channel 9 takes questions from Orlando residents straight to City Hall The City of Orlando is not listed in the lawsuit, and therefore, it did not make any comments regarding the litigation. The City issued the following statement regarding its flooding prevention measures. As the month of June is the start of Hurricane season, although all year long, the City's Public Works team continuously prepares for the potential of severe storms, especially during the summer months. This includes checking inlets, lake outfalls, and drainage well intakes, as well as monitoring and lowering lakes to account for precipitation expectations each day. In addition, they inspect construction sites to ensure inlets are not experiencing any blockages and that water is flowing efficiently. The Florida Department of Transportation, the Orlando Utilities Commission, and Gibbs and Register would not make any comments either. Channel 9 also reached out to Hubbard Construction, the second defendant in the suit, but has not heard back. As the hurricane season gets underway, the family says they do not believe their community is ready for what's to come over the next months – especially because the projects are still ongoing. 'What is your message to whoever is in charge of preparing for this season,' Channel 9's Geovany Dias asked the couple. 'Do your job, look after everyone,' said Stephen. 'There's more to it than just the drainage system. These are families. These are homes that we pay loads of taxes on as well,' Anne said. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
