Lightning Strikes Ripon

Three reported lightning strikes startled Ripon residents Monday morning with the Ripon Consolidated Fire Department responding to one on the west wide of Austin Road just north of West Ripon Road. No one was was reported to have been injured in the strike and firefighters found only smoke inside the home after the lightning reportedly hit an electrical outlet in the house.

PG&&E crews arrived on the scene with three trucks later in the day and worked on a pole to the north of the home where a transformer was apparently damaged.

Two other homes were reportedly hit in the Chesapeake Landing 55 plus community on River Road without any visible damage. One woman said she was in her kitchen and observed the strike in her living room that took her by complete surprise. She said she was not injured and a neighbor three doors away said his home had also been hit by lighting about the same time Monday morning. .

There had been more than an hour of loud thunder claps in the area shortly before the strikes.