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Lightning breaks through ceiling of Hillsborough County man's home

Mitchell Brasher said bolt was just feet from him
Posted at 5:15 PM, Jul 05, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-05 18:51:44-04

CITRUS PARK, Fla. — A lightning bolt crashed right into Mitchell Brasher's roof and ceiling around 2 p.m. Thursday.

The Citrus Park resident told ABC Action News that the bolt exploded just outside his bedroom door, ripping a hole through his ceiling, and blowing a chunk of two-by-four right out of his wall.

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“I was more shocked than anything to have something like that happen to me,” he said.

Brasher said firefighters determined the damage was minor enough to allow him and his four-year-old daughter back inside. He said his bedroom TV and his thermostat appear not to be working after being zapped by the lightning.

Brasher worked with his landlord Thursday to patch over the hole on the top of his roof.

“Never seen nothing like it,” he said.

Neither Brasher nor his daughter were hurt.