At least two Edmonton families in different parts of the city were busy cleaning up after Thursday’s summer storm – when their homes were struck and damaged by lightning.
“I heard it, I felt it, I felt the house shake,” Lila Karasiuk said, describing the moment her home was hit by lightning.
“The power went out and I went downstairs to check the power box, but I noticed there was a strange smell,” Karasiuk said.
She says she then went outside, where a woman told her what had happened.
“She’s like, ‘Your house was struck by lightning, you should probably get out of the house’,” Karasiuk said – she surveyed the damage.
“Underneath the roof was blown off and charred, and I saw that socket, it was all black, that was a little scary.”
The homeowner found out later the lightning hit her attic, one room away from where her 10-month-old son slept.
Then, hours later and several blocks away, a Westmount family had a similar experience.
“We heard a sudden downpour then what sounded like two shotgun blasts,” Tamara Shepherd said.
At first, the family didn’t think anything of it.
“But then I smelled burning, so I came upstairs and saw plaster had blown across the room,” Shepherd said. “I said to Saul, I think lightning hit our house.”
Shepherd and her son were initially worried the strike may have sparked a fire – emergency crews checked it out, and said it was clear.
The two strikes might appear to be unusual, but fire officials say it’s not.
“There are frequent strikes in the city, luckily, they don’t always result in damage,” Graham Delong, Acting Deputy Chief of Operations with Edmonton Fire Rescue said.
For Karasiuk, the lighting resulted in about $10,000 in damage to electronics and in home repairs – but in either case, no one was hurt.
With files from Sarah Richter
