No people or animals were hurt Wednesday after lightning struck a Buda area home, leading to a blaze that significantly damaged the structure.
The incident happened around 2 p.m. last week in the 1400 block of Coldstone Hollow in the Whispering Hollow Subdivision. Helping to extinguish the blaze were the Buda and Kyle fire departments.
Gary Gagnon, a Whispering Hollow resident, said he and his family were about to enter their home when lighting struck the house directly across the street from them.
“Just like that, ‘boom.’ It scared everyone on the street,” Gagnon said.
John Lockyer, who lives a few houses down from the impacted residence, said he heard the thunder and saw the strike on a weather radar app he had opened.
Several minutes later, Lockyer said his wife received a call from a neighbor who saw smoke billowing from the home.
“It was all very scary and it could have happened to us,” Lockyer said.
Emergency officials were called, as were the homeowners, who were not in the residence when the lightning bolt struck. While the home suffered significant damage, the homeowners were able to get their family pet out of the house uninjured.
“One ray of sunshine out of a disaster,” Gagnon said.
Meanwhile, no one was hurt after lightning struck the roof of a building at the Carrington Oaks Apartment complex on Cabela’s Drive. Buda and Manchaca fire officials responded to the complex just as the blaze in Whispering Hollow had been mostly extinguished.
Emilio, an employee at the complex, said he heard the storm pass through the area when he started seeing and smelling smoke in the area.
That discovery led Emilio and other workers at Carrington Oaks to call emergency officials, while also alertting residents in the structure to exit.
Priscilla Garcia, one of the residents that temporarily evacuated the building, said she was getting ready for work when she heard loud banging on her door.
“I saw it was one of the building officials and he started yelling that we needed to get out of the building really fast,” Garcia said. “I didn’t hesitate and grabbed my phone and keys and ran out.”
Garcia said she saw and smelled the smoke from the lightning strike as she was sprinting down the stairs.
Despite the scare, the building only suffered minor damage.
“No one was hurt and it wasn’t serious,” Emilio said. “We are okay.”
