Reader report: West Seattle lightning strike

Kate Hawley says she took that photo and the next one around 5 pm, after a lightning strike in the 17th/Myrtle vicinity (map):

As Kate describes it:

Our neighbor’s tree was struck by lightning and split the tree down the middle! The strike blew chunks of cedar all over the next door neighbor’s house and yard and all the way out into the street. The family was at home when it hit but no one was hurt, thankfully. The bedroom window was broken from the impact.

Here’s our earlier storm coverage, with lightning/thunder/downpour video and more.

cjboffoli August 25, 2008 (10:52 pm)

Did anyone see the old Robert Redford film “The Natural?” The owners of this tree should make baseball bats from the wood and hit homeruns with them.

Scott B. August 26, 2008 (5:59 am)

The link in the comments section of the Seattle P-I article does not work. The link title is correct, but the target is incorrect. It looks to me as though it has an extraneous “9” at the end.

Stephanie August 26, 2008 (8:47 am)

WOW! I knew it was some where in WS but NOT that close! I live just around the corner. Good thing no one was hurt.

Lachlan August 26, 2008 (8:49 am)

Wow, wow, WOW. Nature once again shows off her considerable power. I’m so glad no one was hurt.

WSB August 26, 2008 (8:52 am)

Scott, yes, I managed to put a bad link in that comment, nothing I can do about it, comments aren’t editable there (or here for that matter) … not an excuse but a data point, the P-I comment system doesn’t use regular HTML, it’s some weird sort of coding, although I usually manage to deploy it OK if I concentrate REALLY HARD :) … It was meant to point to this post, anyway. – TR