Struck by Lightning!

Not really the sort of thing you expect to happen at a creative writing course (except metaphorically)!  We have been without the internet for a few days due to a massive alpine thunderstorm.  It woke us up in the middle of the night with spectacular lightning and we began to count between the flash and the bang as the storm got nearer and nearer.  Then, suddenly, there was a tremendous crash and searing light all at the same time, the ground shuddered and the electricity went out.

Dawn revealed that the lightning had struck the top of the tower, taking off one of the turrets and damaging the other.  Some electricity cables were blown out of the walls and all the trip switches had been tripped.







The rubble was precipitated onto the roof below and into the courtyard where, luckily, no-one had been standing.

Even luckier, Neil - who has his studio in the tower and usually sleeps in the room above - was sleeping in the room with me and not in the tower, otherwise - as someone put it at breakfast - 'Neil arrosto!'  The thought of Neil being barbequed was not pleasant!


In the tower, the internet system had been blown apart and the scorched bits thrown across the room - printers, televisions and other equipment had been blown up, including Neil's computer - the burn marks at the bottom show where the lightning went through. 


Neil has lost a lot of stored data, since his back up drives were also affected by the static generated by the million or so volts of the strike.  Quite an experience!  But at least we are all alive to tell the story.



Comments

  1. Oh wow.
    Frigtening!
    I am so glad all are safe.
    Both my brother and E our eldest have had close calls with lightning. A scary event.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That sounds scary. I have been thinking lately about the benefits of offsite backup, perhaps on one of the online services. Having my spare hard drives right next to the computer won't help if the building is burnt down, turned to rubble in an earthquake or struck by lightning!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts