HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-08-26, Page 4Page A4 - Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, August 26, 2009
After the sto
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Above, Kati and Dave Sutherland and Craig Harrison of Quarter Mlle Lane enter-
tain at Courthouse Park following Thursday's severe thunder storm.
Photo by Gerard Creces
Ed Laithwaite peels back the bark on one of three black walnut trees that were
struck by lightning at his Huron Road home.
Lightning strikes thrice
at .Laithwaite orchard
Gerard Creams
signal -star staff
They say lightning never strikes the
same place twice, and for Ed Laithwaite
it's true - it struck three times.
The owner of Apple Park just east of
Goderich had three black walnut trees
struck by lightning during Thursday's
storm, which saw more than 35 millime-
tres of rain hit the area in a matter of min-
utes.
After seeing the gathering clouds and
watching the storm move nearer, Laith-
waite began to close windows in the house
and get ready for the rain. While he is
accustomed to working in all types of
wether, he said a gut instinct that told him
he should stay indoors.
"About a half hour before the wind,
there was this rumbling. I thought it could
have been thunder," he said. "Normally I
would work out in that, but I kind of had
this haunting feeling."
Moments later, the room lit up, and in an
instant, Laithwaite said he knew that light-
ning had struck, though he first thought it
hit the building.
"Red, yellow, blue... I can't even de-
scribe the colours," he said. "It was so bad,
but there was nothing wrong, even at the
house
After the storm had passed and he be-
gan to clean up branches from around the
property, he noticed a large walnut tree,
just feet from the shed and two others
closer to the apple orchard had been struck
by lightning. The bark of all three trees ap-
pears to be lacerated from the main crotch
of the tree to the ground, and the bark pulls
back easily to reveal the charred evidence
inside.
While he said he's no expert, he believes
it could have been three forks in the same
strike that simultaneously damaged all
three trees.
After hearing of the death of a Durham -
area boy from the same storm system, he
said the lesson hit home about storm safe=
ty "I wouldn't have thought twice before,"
he said. "But there is no way I'm doing
anything when it's thundering now."
The storm was part of a larger system of
thunderstorms, including two F2 tornadoes
that tore through the province August 20.
The system began in the Sarnia and
Windsor areas, and progressivly got worse
as it moved eastward, according to Envi-
ronment Canada.
State of emergencies were declared in
Durham and Vaughan, Ontario, as both
communities suffered severe damage.