LIMA — A lightning strike from a storm that rolled through Wednesday evening into Thursday destroyed a house, but the occupants escaped without injury.
A home at 49 Beaumont Place was destroyed by a fire that started with a lightning strike, said American Township Deputy Chief Keith Brickner. The house is in Sherwood Park subdivision off Cable Road.
Fire investigators are trying to determine if the lightning started the fire or if it caused some type of damage to the house’s electrical system that led to the fire, Brickner said.
The fire was called into 911 by the homeowner at 7:39 a.m. The lightning strike happened at 12:30 a.m., knocking out power to appliances, television sets and tripping at least one breaker in the house, Brickner said.
A woman at the house reset the breaker after the lightning strike, and power was restored, Brickner said. But when she woke in the morning, power was out again and she tried resetting a couple breakers but power would not come back on. She then noticed the smell of smoke, discovered a fire and left the home with her three children, Brickner said.
The fire caused an estimated $90,000 in damage to the home and $50,000 to the contents inside, Brickner said. The home is valued at $99,400, according to Allen County Auditor records. It’s owned by Benjamin and Leslie Moline.
Meanwhile, the much-talked-about storm left most of the area relatively unscathed. About 1,000 homes were without power in Allen County for a short time and there were some outages in Hardin County, officials said.
There was some flooding in low-lying areas, and Lima police reported the underpasses at East Elm Street and South Metcalf Street were flooded and impassable overnight.
The Ottawa River was up and moving at a fast flow, and there was some standing water in Faurot Park near the ball diamonds. Other areas of flooding were reporting around the region but nothing significant.
Lightning lit up the sky overnight and rain fell, but there was no reported damages from the wind.
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