Lightning Bolt Strikes Too Close to Home

Many people ran for cover as lightning pounded Bend Wednesday night. For some, the strikes came too close for comfort. A group of friends who were enjoying themselves outside say they’re lucky to be alive, after lightning struck a tree right next to them.

“I thought I was dead,” Elmer Groener said Thursday. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’m dead.'”

“My world just sort of exploded,” added Paul Greathouse.

“Just about that time it hit, and boy, it was like a bomb going off,” Don Anderson said.

The men were outside, playing a game of horseshoes, when they said lightning struck a tall tree in the front yard of a southeast Bend home.

“We’re examples of what not to do,” Groener said. “When lightning strikes, you don’t want to be near a tall tree.”

The men said they could hear the thunder, and they were watching the lightning come closer and closer. They were just about to wrap up their game when the lightning struck and they were knocked to the ground.

“I was thrown about eight to 10 feet away, and we were all pretty much in shock, trying to figure out what was going on,” Groener said.

Once the men picked themselves up, they noticed an odd sensation in their faces and hands.

“They were just tingling for about 10 minutes, and then my teeth, the same thing,” Anderson said. “I thought, ‘Well this is weird,’ but I guess there’s nothing normal in a lightning strike.”

The guys also found a dead bird on the ground that fell from the tree hit by lightning. A tire was blown out on the RV in the driveway. And the gravel was out of sorts, as if someone dug a hole in the ground. It threw gravel so high, rocks are still on Anderson’s truck.

“I feel very fortunate to be alive,” Greathouse said. “To be that close to a powerful amount of energy and not get killed, I think it is a blessing.”

While Groener and Greathouse played horseshoes again Thursday morning, Anderson worked on his electrical box. His phone system, air conditioning and power in the garage are still out.

“I called my homeowners’ insurance, and they said to do what you got to do and just keep the receipts,” Anderson said.

But the electrical problems seem like only a minor issue, because the men say they know how lucky they are to be able walk away from the experience.

“Had it been 20 feet to the side, instead of the top of tree, or hit one of the chairs we were sitting on, we’d probably all be gone,” Greathouse said. “We were really fortunate.”

The men said they hope people can learn from their story and be better prepared for the next thunderstorm on the High Desert.