Lightning damages house, kills dog

Some families are still busy surveying storm damage. Last night lightning struck several houses in one Knoxville neighborhood, sending two people to the hospital and killing a dog.

Crystao Phelps says, "it sounded like a bomb was exploding in this whole neighborhood." The blast wasn't a bomb, it was a bolt of lighting that hit several houses at the same time. "My first impression was i thought a tree had fallen and hit the house it shook so bad."

Fire officials say the bolt hit Tom Best's tree first, then traveled through the root system and exploded under his house. He says, "it must have hit right behind the vanity. It busted the ceramic in two."


The impact was so strong, it blew out electrical sockets and shattered glass. Best says, "every one of the pictures that was in the hallway was knocked off and shattered. It just completely destroyed the back part of the house."

Best lost his bathroom in the blast. But that's not the worst part. The lightning also hit his dog - killing it. He says, "we took better care of that dog than most people would. And we loved that dog to death."

Two houses down, the same bolt hit Crystao Phelps. The lightning actually traveled through an open window and hit her as she was sitting on the couch. "You don't think you're going to sit in your living room and get struck by lightning," she tells us. She adds that she heard a loud rumble of thunder and looked up just as it struck. "It looked red when it hit my arm. Before it came in the window it looked like it was blue and purple. I seen exactly when it hit." She says, " I was scared to death! I never experienced anything like that in my life, and hope to never again!"

She says her angel statue turned out to be more than a decoration.
"I believe that's my guardian angel now. I'm glad my brother brought it to me."

Her arm is still sore, but her doctors say Phelps will be ok. As for the Bests; they're staying with friends and family while they fix up their house