Ottawa storm: House struck by lightning leaves hole in roof, shocking Orléans residents

The storm that hit Ottawa Thursday evening was accompanied by heavy rain and lightning that struck a house in Orléans.

Katherine Lemay, who lives in Orléans, told CTV News Ottawa in an interview Friday that she was reading a book in bed Thursday night when she heard a “giant boom” and saw a flash of light.

“Immediately, all the lights in the house went out,” she said. “I knew right away we had been hit. The sound was like a bomb or a cannon going off.”

That’s when she ran downstairs where her husband was watching hockey, and they were left in the dark, using their phone flashlights.

They realized there was a hole in the roof when they went out to see what was happening.

“I went outside… and found roof shingles on our lawn. That reinforced my suspicion that we had been struck by lightning. So we took a ladder and went to check the roof from the attic,” Lemay added.

Lemay and her husband then called 911 because the last thing they expected was for the house to be struck by lightning.

When firefighters arrived at her home to assess the damage caused by the lightning, they were surprised to find that nothing had caught fire. She says the firefighters arrived with so many trucks because they were prepared to fight a fire. She adds that the firefighters told her that normally when a house is struck by lightning, it catches fire, stressing that their case is “unique.”

“The firefighters checked our attic and the hole, as well as our electrical system to make sure there was no further damage. They also went up on our roof to put a piece of plastic over the hole to protect it from water damage,” Lemay added.

“We know that the expert has informed us that our attic insulation is completely wet and therefore needs to be completely replaced as it will no longer do its job. We have no water damage to the ceiling that we can see.”

Lemay is happy that no one was injured. “We were shocked by what happened, but also relieved to learn that it could have been much worse. We could have lost our house,” she said.

Firefighters informed Lemay that after a lightning strike, the electrical panel should not be touched, citing the possibility of electrocution, as the panel could still be live with a load.

“Apparently you should never touch your electrical panel after a lightning strike,” she said. “That may seem obvious today, but it wasn’t the case last night. The electrical panel could still be live, so when we went to fix the circuit breaker and turn the lights back on, the fire department warned us that I could have been electrocuted and died.”

She says the damage was limited to the roof and attic. They are currently working with the insurance adjuster to make repairs, she adds.

Severe weather hit eastern Ontario on Thursday, prompting several severe weather alerts, including tornado warnings.

Thunderstorms were reported in Ottawa between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., and the bad weather forced the postponement of the Ottawa Redblack game. A total of 11 millimetres of rain was recorded at the Ottawa airport.