Violent Storm at Kelleys Dairy
I always get up around 3:45 a.m. seven days a week. I make coffee and usually drink a cup before heading to the barn for chores. This past Sunday morning I got up and everything was quiet and I started the coffee brewing. It was about done when things got violent outside. Lightning was coming loud and fast and rain was pouring down hard when a bolt of lightning hit real close. I heard things sizzle inside one of my electric receptacles and then snap it blew the special button on that receptacle. I waited a bit for the rain to ease and walked around the house trying to tell if anything was smoking or burning. The storm moved on around 4:20 and I headed out to chore.
When I finished up and returned to the house the first thing I tried was the washing machine as I had a load of cow wash cloths to wash. Washer wouldn't work, HUH? I checked the breaker box and found one breaker off and reset it and the washer started. Thought I had everything under control then. I came on in to the computer room and fired it up but could not get online. It said I had no connection. I noticed the telephone base set next to me here was off. I picked it up to look and noticed that the lightning had blasted the phone line out of the back of the unit. So I checked the modem but the lights were on and it seemed fine. I went to the dsl filter at the phone jack and noticed that the line to the modem had been blasted out of the filter. I plugged both back in but still had no phone or modem. I retrieved an old hard wire phone and plugged it in to the dsl filter but it would not work either so I went to the bedroom where I have a hardwire phone plugged in at all times in case we lose power and the phone line was working. Back to the office I came and removed the dsl filter and plugged in the old phone to the jack and it went to working so I guess it got my dsl filter. I borrowed one from another location in the house and plugged it in and the old phone and modem and was able to get online and have a phone. I went to check my answering machine to see if anything had happened to it and found it was shot also.
About then we discovered several things not working so I went to checking the GFI receptacles in the house and all had been popped. I reset them and all went to working properly except the answering machine and the two phone walk around phone system that we depend on. I thought that was the total of our losses but this morning I discovered more. The photos below shows what I found.
When I went to the shed to get some air from the air compressor for the haybine this morning I saw this electric fence charger hanging from its mount. I turned the breaker box off so I could safely unplug it and took it down. It suppose that the lightning got this too. It was not like that Saturday when I was in the shed. Notice how the plug in seems blown up. I am real lucky that it did not start a fire as it did not trip the breaker. (To see the photos better - right click on the photo and choose view image).
Total losses for me was one Uniden two phone system, one GE answering machine, one dsl filter and one electric fence charger. My daughter and her family live just down the road and it got their phone system and their dvd/vcr player that I am aware of.
Cheerily
IJK
Storm