LAHARPE — Sharon Allen still isn’t sure if she’ll be able to salvage her home, badly damaged early Tuesday in a fire caused by a bolt of lightning.
Allen’s home wasn’t insured, so she has begun the painstaking effort of cleaning out debris, then having construction experts look at the house to determine the extent of the fire and water damage.
“I grew up here,” Allen said Thursday while clearing out water-logged items from her living room.
Allen was awakened by the pounding thunderclaps prompted by nearby lightning strikes as a series of thunderstorms plowed through the area overnight Monday into Tuesday.
One particularly loud clap of thunder jolted Allen awake. She checked Facebook on her phone, sauntered into the other side of the house momentarily before returning to bed.
Then it happened.
“It sounded like a bomb exploded,” she said.
The bolt actually struck the ground behind her garage, but the concussion from the deafening thunderclap knocked several windows out of her garage.
The jolt of electricity passed through electric wires in her garage and through another line into her house. Charred remains of the surge are evident on the outside of both her house and garage.
Allen instantly identified the smell of burning wiring.
By the time she exited her bedroom, smoke began to fill her kitchen, as the ceiling collapsed.
“I’d only been in there a couple seconds earlier,” she said.
Allen fled the house, leaving the door open so her cats could escape (they did) and called 911 from her car.
LaHarpe volunteer firefighters were on the scene for several hours. They were able to extinguish the fire before it spread beyond her kitchen — it was destroyed — but water damage was evident throughout the home.
Allen, who works at Iola Walmart, is staying with her daughter in Iola until she determines where she’ll live on a permanent basis. She is taking a week off to do the cleanup.
She has several friends and family coming over today to help her clean out the rest of her belongings, “but we need a truck; preferably a dump truck.
“I have lots of muscle,” she joked. “We just don’t have a place to put everything.”
Those who have a truck Allen can use should call 363-2370.
The Neosho Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross also has been touch, vowing to help in any way it can.
An account in Allen’s name has been set up at Emprise Bank for anybody willing to donate financially.
Lightning sparks damaging house fire
