I arrived home yesterday to a darkening cloud... I rushed into our entry. The thunder started... a dozen booms over 15 minutes. There was a loud & distinct snap, and a half second later a loud boom. All the GFI outlets in the house popped. And the cable box is dead. No phone or internet. I still have TV (and a back up antenna system). So I am typing this from Mc-Internet... Appointment Monday to get a new cable box.Russ

As odd as it may sound, I sure do miss watching a good lightning storm...

OK with lightning... just not in camp. Had one that was too close. Hit next tent to us. We've had poles & trees on our street hit. Hit our friend's well a couple of years ago... followed the water line back to their colonial farm house... opened the trench back up for them. i'm not going to tempt fate...

I too have had a close call with lightning storms and really like to watch but hate to see it too close. I'll never forget the smell of lightning... It's very spooky...

I too have had a close call with lightning storms and really like to watch but hate to see it too close. I'll never forget the smell of lightning... It's very spooky...

..that would be the smell of ozone being created to protect our ozone layer that protects the earth from harmful UV radiation. Something that all the global warming spooks tend to overlook when trying to explain the harmful greenhouse gas emissions. There are thousands of lightning strikes that take place every second on our planet. Thats alot of ozone!

McInternet for a few days, cable man came out & replaced the box. All is right with the world. All of my surge protectors survived, the whole house panel protector, the cheap appliance protectors, (cable box, wireless router, all computers, TVs, Microwave, Refridge) (The MicroWave survived a hit when it was brand new but you have to remember how many seconds you punch in because a lot of the display is fried.) I lost a lot of phones & computer adaptors when we were on dial up... it would come in on the phone lines.

One of our friends survived a camp lightning strike with prompt medical attention... he was asleep in his tepee when it was hit. His camp nick name had been "Snap" (the term for a flint musket which fails to fire). Post lightning, his name was "Snap, Crackle & Pop!" His compadres performed CPR, he had a host of symptoms but only hearing damage has persisted. One Lucky dude (or unlucky depending on your point of view). My Uncle (current owner of the family dairy farm, my Grandfather bought this property in 1899) was concerned when the heifers did not come to the fence for feeding. He found all 7 of them dead under a lightning struck tree. It was a sizeable loss for the farm.

Might be worth it to get a lightning surge suspressor for your house. Mine came part of my inverter kit and it just wires in on a breaker in the breaker panel and can sit in the bottom of the panel. https://www.google.com/shopping/product/12153326702196543972?q=Lightning+Arrestor&client=ubuntu&hs=XxR&channel=fs&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.49784469,d.cGE,pv.xjs.s.en_US.MpiVkF51mpA.O&biw=1680&bih=865&tch=1&ech=1ψ=qN3zUcq2GeGRiAKDlYCoDw.1374936489484.3&sa=X&ei=r93zUc26H6nYigLD34HYCw&ved=0CH8Q8wIwAg https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/public/tIuPPzwhnBSA1TTedj8AaDeNUyzYcxrIiJRcbrmXlr68zN4V67kkXI8kkUbNrQq5CvLmQN759G-1i7i76IPB98bT19PnoELdEs0fIzgqxtPyen-uyuRtZK3Lffoazd_7bQFm4-AP2QHbuWEBnHbuzDck9urGCIQwq3KGTRseJkM-GjeXQkEL=s220-c

My meter / service entrance is more than the 10 feet allowed by code from my main panel so I had to get a shut off below the meter. Long ago, I installed a Main Panel surge protector on the main buss with the outside switch off. It looks like a epoxie sealed Bell Box with LEDs in the cover. I have the main panel surge protector backed up with individual protectors for appliances & computers. This was after we fried a computer power supply, answering machine, phones. I found that it was coming in on the phone line, not power.