A Hebron man was struck by lightning on Monday night, and lived to tell NBC Connecticut about the frightening experience.
A powerful storm ripped through the town and caused a lot of damage, snapping trees and tearing down power lines leaving resident with a big mess to clean up.
“All of the sudden there was a big boom and I felt a huge jolt go up my arm,” said Tom Lenkiewicz.
He was brushing his teeth when lightning struck. He said his hand was under the running water when he felt the electric current go through his body.
“Basically, yeah, and I'm glad I'm here to talk about it,” Lenkiewicz explained.
Seconds later he heard what sounded like an explosion. Then he realized that sound was his 50 foot maple tree that had just come crashing down.
“I thought something in the house blew up that's why I went running upstairs to see what happened,” Lenkiewicz said.
“It ripped the siding over there it ripped the power lines out,” Eric Porter said as the damage at his home.
Power lines were ripped down when a tree snapped, and it got dangerous quickly.
“It was sparking and everything. There was electricity sparking on the ground,” Porter said.
He explained the storm was one of the worst he had ever seen in Hebron.
“For about five minutes it felt like a hurricane,” Porter added.
Even though Porter didn’t have power Monday night, he realized the situation could have been much worse. Something Tom Lenkiewicz encountered first hand.
“They say one and a million so I guess I'm done for the rest of my life,” Lenkiewicz said.
