Lightning Strikes Tree In Lakewood, Sends Wood Like 'Daggers' Into Homes
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) - Wednesday's storms the rolled through the Denver metro area brought plenty of lightning. One lightning strike in Lakewood hit a tree and blasted some of the wood into a nearby house.
The bold spiraled down the 40-foot cottonwood tree and created a hole in the ground right next to the tree's trunk.
The neighborhood was full of people at the time of the strike and most everybody heard it. Carol Stark was only about 30 feet away when the bolt hit the tree, and shards of wood from the tree hit and stuck in the side of her house.
"You could hear the lightning hit and it was just the loudest thing you could imagine," Stark said.
The bark exploded like flying daggers. It broke windows and punched into the side of Stark's home. Wooden shrapnel was found a block away on top of two-story roofs.
"There are 100, 200 pieces of tree just sitting, scattered along the grass out here," another resident said.
PHOTO GALLERY: Lightning Strike Shatters Lakewood Tree
Thunder and lightning rolled over the metro area for four hours. The Lakewood neighborhood residents knew to seek shelter. Anybody outside could have been seriously injured or even killed.
The tree that was hit was loaded with water from the storm. The crews that came and cut the tree down said that when the bolt hit it most likely instantly boiled all the water inside the tree, and that's what caused the explosion.