PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. (WSVN) - A bolt of lightning struck a flagpole outside a South Florida home, giving a jolt to the homeowner, his pets who were inside and his appliances.
Surveillance cameras from the Pembroke Pines home captured the lightning strike on the home’s driveway at around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, sending sparks flying.
Seconds after the blast, electric currents entered Robert Goggin Jr.’s home near the 7700 block of Northwest Sixth Court.
“People don’t think about lightning as a huge safety concern, but when it happens to you, it kind of is a surreal, eye-opening experience,” he said.
The homeowner said the bolt made a hole in an electrical panel with cables on the ground and charred appliances, electronics and outlets inside and outside the house.
“We came home to complete destruction,” said Goggin.
He arrived home with his father, also named Robert Goggin, to find several things looking different.
“The garage door opener, it fried the motherboard. It fried the Wi-Fi routers. The microwave doesn’t work. Basically, just got everything in this vicinity. We got lucky it didn’t do more damage,” said the younger Goggin.
No one was hurt from the blast, but the Goggin family wants to remind everyone that life can change within an instant flash.
“You really don’t know what’s going to happen, especially lightning. It’s not like a hurricane where we have weeks down the road to prepare. The lightning’s there, and it’s too late,” said the elder Goggin.
Both men feel grateful that their four cats are OK.
“There were two cats inside and two cats out back, and they are OK, they are all right,” said the elder Goggin. “Their hair is a little stood up straight. I think their hairdo has changed a little bit, so in a lucky way, we get to have a little giggle out of that.”
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