Missouri dad filmed walking out his front door just as lightning struck family's yard
Dylon Conner, 32, of Blue Springs, was walking out his front door just before 5pm on July 24 when lightning suddenly tore through the sky, footage from his doorbell camera showed.
The explosive surge split the sky with blinding light and sent a powerful jolt through the camera, barely missing Conner as he recoiled in terror.
'There's a lot of what ifs, and I try not to dwell on the what ifs right now,' the father told Fox 4 KC News.
'I'm just thankful that God protected me and my family from not being in the middle of the yard when the lightning hit our tree.'
The harrowing footage captured Conner opening his front door and commenting on the downpour.
'Dude, the amount of rain - it's crazy,' he's heard saying.
His toddler son, Liam, then called out to him.
'I mentioned the rain and how much rain has been falling. And he told me, "Don't worry dad, my umbrella will help,"' Conner told Fox 4.
'That was like the point in time where I turned around to acknowledge what he said to me.'
The came a deafening crash as lightning struck the tree in their front yard, causing Conner to jump hack.
'We're not going anywhere now,' he's heard saying in the footage.
The tree and a swing attached to it remarkably remained standing after the strike.
'It's our kids' favorite tree. I like decorating it for Christmas, and then our swing has been there for like five years now, since COVID,' he told Fox 4.
'We had that installed, and they swing on it all the time. So I don't want to lose that.'
Thankfully, Conner was unharmed - thanks in part to Liam's last-minute decision to fetch an umbrella.
'It scared me, scared my son, scared my wife, even our neighbors across the street were like, "wow,"' Conner told fox 4.
'That was just surreal to have lightning hit that close to us.'
The doorbell cam footage, which was shared to a Blue Springs Facebook forum by Conner's wife, has racked up tens of thousands of views.
'My husband and toddler, by the grace of God, barely missed being hit!' she wrote in the caption.
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