OCALA, Fla. – A Central Florida man says a lightning strike left a trail of damage across his Ocala property over the holiday weekend.
Larry Mull says the strike ripped apart a shed, destroyed his water pump and filter system, and left his home without running water for days.
Mull says he heard a loud boom Saturday night and discovered the damage the next morning.
“A real bright flash and a real loud boom, almost simultaneously. It shook the whole house,” Mull said.
Pieces of the damaged shed were scattered across the yard. Mull says the lightning destroyed the pump and filtration system that supplies water to his home.
“We don’t have city water here, it’s just a well,” Mull said. “It just blew everything apart on those.”
Mull says repairs are expected to cost thousands of dollars. In the meantime, he says he’s temporarily hooked into a neighbor’s water supply.
He says the timing made things even harder, with the strike happening during the holiday weekend while he tried to contact insurance and repair crews.
Mull says he also feels lucky the strike did not hit two propane tanks inside the shed.
“I consider myself very lucky because there’s two propane tanks in there and they’re both full, but nothing happened to them,” Mull said.
Despite the damage, Mull says he’s thankful nobody was hurt.
“Lightning capital of the world,” he joked.