We are stuck in the summertime stormy weather pattern.
Tuesday it was Rockdale County’s turn to take the brunt of the damage. But Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brad Nitz says if you didn’t get much rain yesterday, you’ll have plenty of opportunities the rest of the week.
Nitz, who is filling in for the vacationing Kirk Mellish, is calling for afternoon and evening thunderstorms Wednesday through this weekend. High temperatures will be near 90.
Those storms Tuesday nearly costs a Rockdale County man his home. But while a bolt of lightning nearly took down Douglas Brown’s home, a stroke of luck saved it.
“Someone who doesn’t even live in this neighborhood was driving past, saw the lightning hit the house, called the fire department,” Brown told Channel 2 Action News. “Otherwise the whole house would have burned down.”
Tim Hunter was the man whose phone call probably saved that home.
“When that lightning hit, I felt my car shake,” said Hunter, who started driving toward where he thought the bolt hit on Lou Drive to see if anyone needed his help.
“Usually I don’t do that but this was the biggest bolt of lightning I’ve ever seen,” said Hunter. “I mean this bolt of lightning looked like it was 5 or 6 feet wide so when I saw that I was like something's happened.”
And something was happening. Flames were shooting out of the roof of Hunter’s home.
Firefighters arrived quickly and put out the flames.
Brown says his family purchased the home eight months ago and everything inside was new. But there were no people inside when the lightning hit, so the only issue is fixing the damage.
Firefighters say since they were notified quickly, that damage is just superficial. Brown estimates the damage is worth about $80,000.
There were several lightning strikes reported in Rockdale County Tuesday, even the county’s 911 center was hit. But there were no other reports of serious damage.