SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — It hasn’t been a normal week in the Landers’ home.
“It was loud like a train, the thunder. Yeah, it shook the house,” Kara Landers said.
This Monday, Landers says lightning struck her roof.
“I was just folding laundry, putting it away on the bed, and big pop, big flash of lightning,” Landers said. “Kind of felt electricity through my body.”
One neighbor told KOLR 10 off-camera that it was the loudest noise they had ever heard.
Lightning strikes are not as common as other weather damage but can be the most dangerous.
“Lightning claims they’re scary. I mean, lightning does not joke around,” insurance expert Adam McGrath said. “I’ve had some clients who’ve had lightning claims and it can be a mess because if it hits your roof, you might have a hole in your roof. It might also cause the house to catch on fire.”
Landers says her roof did not catch fire but there were other effects.
“The outside of the house was hot, and the inside actually got kind of hot, but I was scared because we have natural gas and that was my one fear,” Landers said. “Our meter was damaged. It was fried. City Utilities replaced that, and they had an independent electrician come out and verify before we turned the electric back on.”
Landers says getting their home back to normal was easy.
“They had everybody come out and inspect it and everything was clear,” Landers said. “Firefighters plugged stuff into the outlets and [used] infrared light [to make] sure nothing was stored in the walls.”
McGrath says most severe weather is covered in home policies.
“As a general rule of thumb, lightning, wind, hail, damage is included on most home insurance policies,” McGrath said. “Some of the most frequent causes of damage would be wind or hail, so that’s common. It happens all the time.”
He adds people shouldn’t shy away from making claims for damage.
“The claims department with the insurance company will work with the homeowner, one-on-one to help get things taken care of and put back together again.” McGrath said.
