We had a very close lightning strike hit near the house last night during a storm that came through Texas yesterday afternoon. When the strike hit it tripped five circuit breakers in the house. I thought it sounded really close when it happened since it was one of those strikes where the flash and the bang happen at the same time and the flash is bright with a purplish hue. The bang is not a crackle-pop, just a loud, visceral BANG! After it happened I glanced briefly outside to see if anything was smoking or on fire; I did not see any damage.

But this morning, my wife found out just how close it was. She found a hole blown in the dirt about 2 feet away from where her Mom's car was parked, with dirt and rocks scattered all over the hood, windshield, and roof. Also, about 10 feet away from that, there was a hole blown in the solid concrete driveway right between my 99 Miata and my wife's car, which were parked right next to each other. Chunks of concrete were everywhere, including a palm sized one that was resting on the trunk of the Miata on top of the spoiler. Smaller bits of concrete were scattered on her car and mine.

The crater in the concrete driveway next to the Miata is about 1 sq ft in area, and about 2 inches deep at its deepest point. This is a solid slab, poured, finished, and rebar reinforced, like a foundation slab.

So why did it not just hit my Miata? I tell you why... Mother Nature is scared of my badass crankshaft. Really, she must have known by reputation that it would spread destruction upon her bosom if she struck, a black pearl oil necklace right on her face. Plus she knew, since my wife's car is my Miata's bitch, that to mess with her car or her mother's car would bring on vengeance as well.

Badass crankshaft information here
https://www.miataturbo.net/showthrea...ght=crankshaft

Yeah that right Nature bitch, don't mess with my crankshaft, or its harem.

 

pics of carnage

 

Awesome! Yeah seriously though, needs moar pics!

 

You're lying!!!!





















Pics.....

 

Yes, sorry, I had to get to work. I took pictures however and will post them tonight.

 

Is it sandy there? Doesnt lightning solidify sand?

 

I thought about the same thing. The soil area where it hit is pretty moist and not very sandy. The soil here is very thin, with solid limestone below that. But I want to check and see if it formed one of those cool structures like what happens with lightning strikes in the desert.

 

I'm glad we've all watched "Sweet Home Alabama".

 

I was worried when I posted about that if someone would call me out.

 

And now I know all about that crankshaft. I had to quote this post.

Somehow mother nature got the message.

 

Thanks for the quote. I didn't feel like reading everything in his link

 

Hes not lying!! Im about 80 miles north in Austin and it was bad. Lightning took out all the T-Mobile towers here and my GF is livid!! LOL Good thing i have verizon! BTW ZX-TX i am picking up the 92 from SA Monday. Actually like 1/2 mile from UTSA. Go to general Miata Chat for the pix. Glad to hear your car is okay.

BTW theres a black one that has the Hydra set up in the same apartment Complex for sale on C-list. Its pretty clean and has teh wilwood brakes and dual exhaust, and some other goodies. I think hes asking way too much, 4000! But you or someone else could prolly get it for cheap if you tried to negotiate.

 

I forgot to mention the reason i think hes asking too much is because its been sitting for prolly 6 mos and is blown!

 

Well it turns out that, although the other cars seem OK, my mother-in-law's car got zapped. It is a Mazda SUV. This morning it would not start despite having power in the battery. No worries, her insurance is covering it with a $100 deductible, free towing, and a rental car.

No other damage to the house other than the hole in the driveway. All of the electronics all seem OK as well. It could have been a lot worse. There is an antenna farm less than 30 feet from where the lighting hit. DirecTV dish, cell phone repeater, and internet access antenna (wireless DSL). If it had hit that... well that would have sucked badly.

Sorry no pictures yet.

I never saw Sweet Home Alabama. Was there some reference to the desert lightning fused sand structures?
http://www.minresco.com/fulgurites/fulgurites.htm

 

In college my truck had a near-miss with lightning. The bolt actually hit the tree that was about 10 feet away. Of course the tree was a pine, and when lightning strikes those it tends to superheat the sap inside causing the soft wood to explode into thousands of tiny fragments. Fortunately there was no serious damage and I was able to remove all the tiny sap droplets in an hour or two using a clay bar.

 

OK finally some pictures...
Here is the damage to the driveway with a car key in the picture for scale


This shows where the Miata was in relation to the strike. I have not moved anything.


That large chunk of concrete above the hole in the second picture was laying on top of the trunk spoiler.

Anyone know how to patch a concrete driveway and make it blend in like it never happened?

 

patching- epoxy type will work well. drill two holes at a 45* angle, spaced evenly, at the bottom of the hole. remove concrete dust from drilling, with a shop vac. epoxy can be purchased from lowes or HD. ask for concrete anchor bolt epoxy. this will be visible but you should be able to make it flat.

reason for hole- my experience welding enbeds on preformed concrete panels has taught me that concrete has limited ability to expand when superheated. it will pop and "explode" while ruining $100,000 cocrete panels trucked into the powerplant in Mississippi from Cali. the boss' general liabilty policy was strained. stupid newb.lol.

 

portland cement

and make the current hole as rough as possible

you'll have a cold joint between the old cement and new cement, which isn't a good thing. They will not bond like you would hope they would. As rocky said, take a hard drill bit to the concrete --> hammer drill + biggest concrete bit you can find + 6-10 holes about 3/4" to 1-1/2" deep and at different angles. Then just fill the cavity with cement and smooth over the surface.