http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a while...
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a while...
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.


I wish your parents well but take heart in the fact that it was a single
incident. Repairs to their home can begin "almost" immediately. Living in
the hurricane zone, damage to a home in a largely populated area guarantees
damage to tens of thousands of homes. Repairs can take an absurdly long
time because of the shortage of materials and workers to do repairs. In
Houston we had a hurricane in early September last year. There are still
homes in my neighborhood that have blue tarps covering the roofs.

Good Luck with the insurance company!

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a while...
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.

Mom was in church when it happened. She was out of the way. I wonder what
the odds are of your house getting struck by lightening? I really don't
know what to say. I hope the house has a speedy recovery. And that your
parents are doing well.

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a while...
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.

Glad nobody was hurt and damage was relatively minor. I bet lightning rods
are a strong consideration right now.

"Doug Miller" wrote:

That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a
while...
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.

Given a choice of natural disasters, fire, flood, wind, earthquake,
lightning, etc, lightning probably creates the easiest cleanup and
repair.

Glad no one was hurt.

Lew

Doug Miller wrote:

http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a while...
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.

It's good to hear no one was injured. I hope the repairs are easy.

P.S. It's a good thing they didn't have a ungrounded dust collector in
their basement. ;-)

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA

In article , Nova wrote:
Doug Miller wrote:

http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a while...
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.

It's good to hear no one was injured. I hope the repairs are easy.

P.S. It's a good thing they didn't have a ungrounded dust collector in
their basement. ;-)

LOL -- the resultant explosion might have levelled the neighborhood!!

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a while...
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.

Glad everyone is OK! You are helpless because you can't tell when or where
they will hit. I know the area well. My first home, out of the service, was
at 61st and Indianola. After about 8 years we moved to the 100 block of East
Westfield Blvd. (ex still lives there) The only things that REALLY freaked
me out were the tornado warnings! Almost all were at night and you couldn't
see anything! (BIG trees around the house) Indiana IS in tornado alley! Now
I live in Seattle, by way of Florida, so I only have to worry about
earthquakes! (lived thru hurricane Andrew in Florida)
Again, glad they're OK. Homes are replaceable, parents aren't.

Dave

(Doug Miller) wrote in
:

http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a
while... Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks
all.

Glad the humans are fine. The hose can berepaired. I do hope it won't
take too long. I don't pray much but good vibes are being sent to you and
your parents!

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

"Dave" wrote:

(BIG trees around the house) Indiana IS in tornado alley!

At one time in my life I sold outdoor area and roadway lighting
equipment.

Poles that are supplied in and around Indianapolis area are designed
to survive 100MPH wind gusts.

It's been a long time, but as I remember, it was confined to a rather
small area.

Lew

In article , "Dave" wrote:

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a while...
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.

Glad everyone is OK! You are helpless because you can't tell when or where
they will hit. I know the area well. My first home, out of the service, was
at 61st and Indianola.

Oh, sure, I know where that is. Close by, indeed.
After about 8 years we moved to the 100 block of East
Westfield Blvd. (ex still lives there)

Even closer. Wow. Small world.
The only things that REALLY freaked
me out were the tornado warnings! Almost all were at night and you couldn't
see anything! (BIG trees around the house) Indiana IS in tornado alley! Now
I live in Seattle, by way of Florida, so I only have to worry about
earthquakes! (lived thru hurricane Andrew in Florida)
Again, glad they're OK. Homes are replaceable, parents aren't.

Exactly so. We live only 10 minutes or so away, off Kessler, so Mom and Dad
spent last night with us, a trifle peeved because the insurance adjuster
hadn't returned any phone calls... but that's all squared away now. The
insurance company is putting them up in a hotel for the next 3 nights or so,
until the adjuster can make arrangements for a condo for the next month.
They've already hired a restoration company, and work is expected to be
completed in early May.

In article , "Lew Hodgett" wrote:
"Dave" wrote:

(BIG trees around the house) Indiana IS in tornado alley!

At one time in my life I sold outdoor area and roadway lighting
equipment.

Poles that are supplied in and around Indianapolis area are designed
to survive 100MPH wind gusts.

And well they need to be, too, Lew. It's not uncommon for thunderstorms here
to have *sustained* winds in excess of 65-70mph with gusts over 80. According
to the National Weather Service website, the highest wind speed ever recorded
here was a gust of 111 mph on 29 June 1929. Not exactly hurricane winds... but
not exactly a gentle breeze, either. That'll do some serious damage.

In article , Han wrote:
(Doug Miller) wrote in
:

http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a
while... Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks
all.

Glad the humans are fine. The hose can berepaired. I do hope it won't
take too long. I don't pray much but good vibes are being sent to you and
your parents!

My thanks to you and to everyone for all your good wishes, prayers, etc. The
outpouring of help from Mom and Dad's neighbors and from their church has been
phenomenal.

Doug Miller wrote:

http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a while...
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.

Wow. Glad no one was hurt. Had a lightning strike a number of years
ago -- hit the DirecTV dish and took out the TV, VCR, travelled through the
phone line and took out the modem and printer but left the TV intact.
Looked like a majority of the energy went through the grounding wire from
the mast. I was awake at the time (~2AM), brilliant blueish flash followed
by an immediate boom. We went through the house making sure nothing was on
fire and that there was no smoke -- there wasn't so we went back to bed.
Our son discovered the damage in the morning when the TV wouldn't come on.

Had a boss in Texas had a lightning strike that burned down his home.
Fortunately, they weren't home at the time. Strike appeared to hit the
chimney and blew out bricks in the fireplace right at where they would have
been sitting for breakfast if they had been home. The fire started in the
attic.

--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough

Mark & Juanita wrote:

Doug Miller wrote:

http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a
while... Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks
all.

Wow. Glad no one was hurt. Had a lightning strike a number of years
ago -- hit the DirecTV dish and took out the TV, VCR, travelled through
the phone line and took out the modem and printer but left the TV intact.
umm, that should have read, "left the PC intact"
Looked like a majority of the energy went through the grounding wire from
the mast. I was awake at the time (~2AM), brilliant blueish flash
followed
by an immediate boom. We went through the house making sure nothing was
on fire and that there was no smoke -- there wasn't so we went back to
bed. Our son discovered the damage in the morning when the TV wouldn't
come on.

Had a boss in Texas had a lightning strike that burned down his home.
Fortunately, they weren't home at the time. Strike appeared to hit the
chimney and blew out bricks in the fireplace right at where they would
have
been sitting for breakfast if they had been home. The fire started in the
attic.


--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough

Doug Miller wrote:
http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a while...
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.


WOW!

It's good to hear nobody was hurt!

I'll keep them in my thoughts.

On Apr 6, 7:58*am, "Lee Michaels"
wrote:
"Doug Miller" wrote in message

...

http://www.indystar.com/article/2009...016/-1/ARCHIVE
That's my parents' house....

Nobody home - nobody hurt. But the cleanup and repair will take a while....
Please keep my parents, Jim and Ann, in your prayers. Thanks all.

Mom was in church when it happened. *She was out of the way. I wonder what
the odds are of your house getting struck by lightening? *I really don't
know what to say. *I hope the house has a speedy recovery. *And that your
parents are doing well.

In Indy the odds are probably pretty small. My brother used to live
in a very flat area NW of Indy (think yard surrounded by corn
fields). They used to get a strike every other year. One year the
strike came down a tree across 15' of yard and blew a hole in the
cement block foundation --- all he could say was that it was "loud and
surprising". From the aftermath, it's amazing just how far bits of
electronics will fly when they get real hot real fast. After the
first time he had learned to keep the receipts on file for those fancy
power strips with guaranteed built-in surge protectors.

hex
-30-

In article 17c1cda1-d175-4920-99b2-
,
says...


first time he had learned to keep the receipts on file for those fancy
power strips with guaranteed built-in surge protectors.

Surge protectors are not lightning arrestors.

I'm surprised that he got away with just having to replace the surge
protectors.

On Apr 8, 7:28*am, phorbin wrote:
In article 17c1cda1-d175-4920-99b2-
,
says...

first time he had learned to keep the receipts on file for those fancy
power strips with guaranteed built-in surge protectors.

Surge protectors are not lightning arrestors.

I'm surprised that he got away with just having to replace the surge
protectors.

There was damage far beyond the surge protectors. But there was a
spendy brand he had for a while (purchased after the first strike!)
with a "we'll replace your fried equipment guarantee" which covered
some of his losses downstream of the protectors. Getting money out of
them was, of course, a slow and painful process -- very few people
ever tried to make a claim so the claims process was not well-oiled
(that may have been by design), then most claiminats don't have the
sales slips as documentation, most of the remaining don't have slips
slips for the damaged equipment.

The worst time they lost multiple power supplies and control units
(computers , microwave, range, furnace, game console). Other times it
was more modest and generally limited to things hooked to a phone
line.

hex
-30-

On Apr 8, 8:47 am, wrote:
The worst time they lost multiple power supplies and control units
(computers , microwave, range, furnace, game console). Other times it
was more modest and generally limited to things hooked to a phone
line.

Having direct lightning strikes without damage is routine if the
protection is properly installed. This was discussed in
rec.crafts.woodturning entitled "options on nova dvr xp" on 21 Mar
2009 at:
http://tinyurl.com/d7ngyd

Solution is rather simple. If a surge is given a path to earth
before entering the building, then no surge damage. If not, then the
surge will find paths destructively to earth through appliances.

Also routine is to have direct lightning strikes without protector
damage. Having a protector damaged (grossly undersized) gets the
naive to promote more sales. Where surge protection means no damage
(ie every telco CO), even the protector must remain functional after
direct lightning strikes. An effective solution that also means
spending less money.

A protector that fails means it provided no protection. Even
becomes a severe fire threat. Routine is to have direct lightning
strikes and the protector even remains undamaged. But that means
energy must be dissipated harmlessly in earth; not is some magic box.

Will a protector stop and absorb what even three miles of sky could
not? Power strip must because it is not connected short to earth.
Obviously, the only protector that can make surges irrelevant is a
protector connected short (ie 'less than 10 feet') to earth. Done
that way everywhere that damage is not acceptable.