Struck by Lightning

Have you ever been told not to take a bath during a thunderstorms.  I was always told lightning can strike the house and the current can travel through the metal pipes and in the water to you.  I guess I never really believed it or just thought "what are the odds."  In FL, we have thunderstorms ALL the time.  We are used to it.  We make sure to try and stay indoors in severe lightning, but I always considered inside to be safe and didn't always follow safety advice.  I got a huge lesson in lightning yesterday after I got struck indoors.  Yes. I was struck by lightning.  Thankfully, it was indirectly and was just a little shock. I'm fine.

We've had storms everyday for almost 2 weeks. We had another evening storm passing over us, so we were trying to help the kids to not be scared.  I had just finished cooking dinner and was dishing up my plate when all of a sudden we heard the loud bang of thunder.  At almost the same time I felt the shock go up my middle, through my hand, and up my arm.  I yelled and jumped back.  It scared me more than anything.  It felt like sticking your hand in an electrical socket.  Not that I've done that since I was a little kid.  I needed to sit down to make sure I was just scared and not hurt. I'm pretty sure I shook for an hour. 

Our kids were scared so we tried to keep them calm while assessing the damage.  I didn't hear all the pops my husband heard... I was a bit preoccupied getting electrocuted.  Turns out there's enough damage to various electronics to call the insurance company.  We have a $1000 deductible and $2000+ damage.  We are pretty good about using surge protectors, but we weren't careful about our cable plugs being protected so we lost our nice TV and computer that way.  It came in through the cable line and fried everything connected to it.  Ironically, we bought the service plan on our older TV that includes surge, but not the new nicer one we bought last year.  All our phones are gone and our internet.  Thankfully, we have smart phones. My garbage disposal was hit.  All garage outlets were hit including our irrigation system and garage door sensor.  So it looks like all summer projects (mainly painting) will be postponed until next summer due to unexpected expenses. 

Be safe during a lightning/thunderstorm!  Stay away from windows, anything metal, and no showers/baths.  It's the perfect excuse to not cook too!  Don't touch the stove!  We are just happy the damage wasn't worse.    

We found where it hit the house.  We also found two more scorch marks on each side.