'Boom!': Central Alberta woman catches nearby lightning strike on camera

EDMONTON -

A Sylvan Lake, Alta., woman is shocked and excited after lightning struck right in front of her home — and she got it on camera.

Carly Horner was filming the dark storm clouds on her phone on Tuesday so she could send it to her family in Nova Scotia.

“A lot of my friends and family don’t really get to experience the weather that we do out here, so I tend to take a lot of videos and pictures of the cool clouds and that kind of thing,” said Horner.

But as she panned across the sky she saw something incredible: a lightning strike pierced through the dark clouds and hit the road only metres from her home.

“Boom! Right in front of me. It was really freaky, I’m not gonna lie, I was a little bit nervous.”

Her husband heard the thunder while working in the basement.

“Loud bang when it hit in front. It was like a train hitting in the front of the house,” said Jesse Horner.

The lightning was followed by relentless hail.

After the hail let up, Carly and her husband ran outside to see if the strike had left a mark. It didn’t, but the experience left an immediate impression on Carly.

“I turned off a couple of lights after that happened because it was like, 'OK, that’s really close,” said Carly.

“I’ll be hiding a lot more,” she laughed.

But when she looks back at the video, she’s glad she captured a once in a lifetime experience on camera.

“I’m just grateful for the opportunity to share it with everybody. To be able to show people how cool nature can be.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nav Sangha.