Toilet explodes after powerful lightning bolt zaps through ceiling
Severe thunderstorms left one restroom out of order after a powerful lightning strike hit an unlikely target.
An apartment in Oklahoma is missing an important fixture after a one-in-a-million lightning strike zapped through the ceiling during powerful thunderstorms this week.
A bolt of lightning struck an apartment complex east of Oklahoma City as waves of severe thunderstorms rolled across the southern Plains on Wednesday.
While lightning hits buildings all the time, this particular bolt made a beeline for the toilet. You’d have to see it to believe it. Photos of the aftermath reveal a distinct char mark on the ceiling directly above the singed and shattered commode. Watch the video above to see the stunning aftermath.
Thankfully, nobody was injured in the freak incident. New tenants planned to move into the vacant apartment the following morning.
That wasn’t the only ill-placed lightning strike in Oklahoma on Wednesday.
According to local news station KFOR-TV, another intense bolt of lightning hit a Best Western hotel in Oklahoma City early Wednesday morning. The strike’s smoky damage forced officials to evacuate the hotel of more than 100 guests until they could extinguish the fire and secure the building.
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Lightning is a distinct hazard even to folks who are nestled indoors during a rollicking storm. Even though the risk of being injured by a bolt of lightning indoors is minimized with modern safety regulations, stronger bolts can still come through a building’s pipes and wiring.
Stronger bolts can even blow through windows, walls, and ceilings, as we saw with Wednesday’s unfortunate bathroom incident.
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Homes and businesses report significant damage from lightning strikes every year. Some of those strikes inevitably find their way indoors. NBC New York reported in June 2017 that a man in Rochester, New York, was injured by a bolt of lightning after it hit the sidewalk outside, jumped through a light switch, and struck his hand while he was sitting at his desk.
Thumbnail credit: Okmulgee Fire Department/Brooke Griffin. Lightning strike added by The Weather Network for illustrative purposes.