Lightning Strikes West Jordan Yard as Neighbor Watches in Disbelief

WEST JORDAN, Utah – In the middle of Wednesday afternoon’s powerful thunderstorms, lightning struck a little too close to home for some neighbors on Dixie Dr.

“Yeah, it was blinding,” said Jamie Bevilhymer, who was looking out her window when the bolt struck a tree in the yard across the street. “Everything exploded—like, the pieces of turf just went flying!”

Gayle Reynolds said she was inside her house at the time the lightning hit her tree.

“I was sitting on our couch in the living room when I heard it, and it lit up our whole living room and it lit up the basement where my husband was watching TV, and the TV went off and part of the electricity went out,” Reynolds said.

Fortunately, the electricity did not shock anyone in the house.

“My sister says we’ve been living right,” Reynolds said.

In addition to leaving a large divot in the yard next to the tree, the tree lost bark and appeared somewhat singed in sections.

Reynolds said she was not sure why lightning picked her yard, though some neighbors surmised some metal attached to the tree might not have helped.

“(My husband) put out this thermometer thing that’s connected with a clock in the house that gives us the temperature,” Reynolds explained. “He put this (metal plate) here to protect it a little bit from the direct sun so that it would have a more correct temperature rather than the sun shining right on it.”

Bevilhymer said she was grateful nobody was hurt.

“It was like explosions, but instead of fireworks, it was turf,” she said of the impact.

Reynolds had mixed feelings about the “too close for comfort” strike.

“It was kind of scary, but it was kind of exciting at the same time,” Reynolds said.