'It felt like there was an explosion inside my house': Lightning strikes Friday Harbor

If you felt as if you were under siege Friday afternoon, you were not alone.

Bolts of lightning did indeed touch down in numerous spots in Friday Harbor as a short-lived storm blew rain and lightning across San Juan Island beginning at about 4 p.m. Though brief, the storm, which passed over the island in about an hour, left many islanders shaking their heads in disbelief.

"I had to come out and make sure I wasn't crazy," said Kira Sable, who lost power at her home when a lightning bolt struck a power pole near the intersection of Franck and Hunt streets. "There was this huge flash of light and then sparks started running down from the top of the pole. I thought I might have been seeing things."

Lisa Lawrence, who happened to be driving past the intersection at that moment, saw it too. Like Sable, she was frightened by what she'd seen.

"It scared me to death," Lawrence said. "I had to drive back to see if it was for real."

And it was.

Shortly after the strike, a two-man crew from Orcas Power and Light Cooperative arrived at the scene and confirmed that the power pole had been hit by lightning. Though several nearby homes lost electricity, including Sable's, the pole's power lines were still transmitting electricity to most of the neighborhood.

Elsewhere, lightning reportedly struck the tie-up slip at the ferry landing and touched down on Dougherty Lane, next to the fairgrounds.

Sable said it's one storm that she won't soon forget.

"It felt like there was an explosion inside my house, like it was happening right there with me," she said.

Contact Journal of the San Juans Editor Scott Rasmussen at srasmussen@sanjuanjournal.com or 360-378-5696.

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