Lightning strike near house in Gulfport

Some South Mississippians spent much of the day Thursday cleaning up debris from Wednesday’s storms.

News 25’s Ethan Krauss caught up with one Gulfport resident who says lightning struck right outside her home during the height of the storms.

Gulfport resident Shaina Barnett was inside with her family when they heard the lightning strike that hit just outside their front yard.

The strike sent gravel to fly onto the roof of their house, damaged a tree, and even hit a car parked in the driveway, damaging it to the point where it won’t start anymore. When asked about the lightning strike, Barnett had this to say. “Which is really crazy because it wasn’t raining or anything yet. It was just kind of calm before the storm. We heard it from inside. My son was outside, he started screaming. I guess some debris had flown over the house and into the backyard. That was really shocking to come out here and see what had happened. I’m not sure if it had hit the tree, the house, or vice versa, but it went through my vehicle and I’m not sure what’s going on with my vehicle but it won’t crank now. It really wasn’t that loud from what I could tell but I had neighbors on the other side of the street say that they heard it and it was really loud. I don’t know if it was because we were so close that we didn’t hear the aftereffects. We just thought that maybe it hit one of those power poles or transformers. I was really surprised to come out and see that it had hit so close to the house.”

Barnett also reported several other damages to her property, including a knocked over fence, damaged roof and gutters, fallen trees, and furniture being launched into the pond in her backyard from high winds. “We got some things in my backyard that have been torn up, my shingles have been ripped off, my fence is down. It didn’t last very long but I’m just thankful that everybody’s ok and our house is still here.”

Shaina and her family are now in the recovery process, cleaning up the damage, and trying to figure out how to get their car started again, but they are thankful that no one was injured from Wednesday’s severe weather.