| Mother Nature showed who's boss early Friday morning, as lightning struck two houses here, heavily damaging one of them. The strikes came amidst a torrential thunder and lightning storm in the early morning hours. "It was a heck of a night," said Riverhead Town fire marshal Bruce Johnson.
The first lightning strike came at about 4:16 a.m. and hit a house on Mill Road owned by Frank Macksel. While Mr. Macksel was not injured, the blast caused what Riverhead Fire Chief Frank Darrow called "moderate" damage to the home. There was damage to the interior walls and windows of the home, as well as extensive damage to the home's electrical system.
"It sounded like a bomb," Tippi Macksel, Mr. Macksel's wife, said of the blast. The blast also knocked some shingles off the house and blew two windows out of a bedroom window frame, said Mr. Johnson. "It's very scary what lightning can do," he said.
The second strike came at about 5:25 a.m. and struck an under-construction condominium in the new Saddle Lakes development on Middle Road. This fire caused heavy damage to the home, with fire breaking though the roof when fire fighters arrived, according to Chief Darrow. The unoccupied home was in one of the last phases of construction when it caught fire. "The most probable cause is a lightning strike," Mr. Johnson said. "There's too much damage to tell exactly where it hit."
The fire was called in by a resident of the nearby John Wesley Village apartments, but it was fully involved by the time fire department volunteers arrived, Mr. Johnson said. Still, it could've been worse, as the unit was one of two attached condominiums. The other sustained minimal damage. Its vinyl siding melted, but it was not destroyed. "The Riverhead Fire Department did a good job containing it," Mr. Johnson said.
The fire department responded with 60 members for the first alarm and 75 members for the second alarm, according to Chief Darrow. |
