SAN ANTONIO – Three houses, all in the same subdivision, were struck by lightning on the city's Northside.
It happened on Tuesday afternoon near McAllister Park.
James Lang was outside working when it happened.
"I was almost at the gate when I saw the bright light," Lang said. "And, you could hear the lightning. You could feel it. It was loud."
Terri Harlow, whose home was one of the houses hit, wasn't there when it happened.
"When I drove up, my husband was here, and I noticed that our house got hit too and so, did our neighbor’s right over here."
Harlow's next-door neighbor, Bill Manes, said he was home at the time his house was hit.
"There was a loud pop," said Manes. "There was a flash of light. The lights went out and they didn't come back on."
Manes said he walked out to find pieces of his house in the yard and his neighbor’s home on the next street, on fire with a gaping hole in the roof.
Brian Lee, battalion chief with the San Antonio Fire Department said there two people in the home with the fire, but they made it out safely before crews arrived,
"It was an apparent lightning strike," said Lee. "We arrived with heavy fire in the attic and the back bedroom. It was well involved."
Manes are Harlow both are assessing the damage to their homes.
"It looks like it did something to the water pipes," said Manes. "It tore up some of the wiring up in the attic and it looks like it destroyed all the cable and internet boxes."
"I think we are very blessed," Harlow said. "We are blessed that we weren't here. I really feel for those neighbors. We're going to do everything we can to help them."
