Resident reports lightning strike

By Donathan Prater

Published: May 11, 2008

Whoever said lightning never strikes twice ought to have a little talk with Edwin and Joyce Baker.

What Edwin Baker believes to have been lighting struck his Springwood Drive home in Auburn during the early hours of Sunday morning.

“There wasn’t any structural damage, but there was a strong scent of sulfur in the house,” said Baker, who has lived at the address for eight years.

Baker was at home with his wife and daughter at the time of the incident.

Firefighters with the Auburn Fire Division came out to investigate the Baker home for lightning damage but did not discover any, although an air-conditioning unit that Baker said was functional before the reported lightning incident no longer works.

And this isn’t the first electrical encounter the Bakers have had with lightning.

In the past, lightning struck a pine tree on the family’s property, according to Baker. The tree was later removed.

While the damage Sunday’s storms produced in the area appears to be be minor, other areas of the state weren’t as fortunate.

Alabama Power spokesperson Michael Sznajderman estimates that as many as 17,000 homes statewide were without power during during the early hours of Sunday morning. Only about 250 of those homes fell within Alabama Power’s Southern Division which covers the Opelika and Auburn area through Montgomery and some areas of Selma.

“The majority of those affected by power outages were in areas of Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Anniston,” Sznajderman said. “We’ve had electrical crews out in force since first light this morning.”

By 8 a.m., Sznajderman said that 17,000 without power was nearly cut in half and expected power to be restored to all Alabama Power customers by the end of the day Sunday.

The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for Lee County that went in effect at 10 a.m. Sunday morning until 7 p.m. that evening.

In addition to lightning and wind, the weekend storms brought just more than an inch (1.08) of rain to the area, according to the Lee County Emergency Management Agency Web site.