Florida Woman Says Toilet Explodes After Lightning Strike

A Florida woman says lightning destroyed her septic tank and caused a toilet in her house to explode.

Published: 8/7/2019, 2:42:33 PM EDT

Florida Woman Says Toilet Explodes After Lightning Strike — A Florida couples toilet in their master bathroom exploded on Aug 4, 2019 in Charlotte County, Fla., after lightning struck the house. (WBBH via CNN)

PORT CHARLOTTE, Florida—A Florida woman says lightning destroyed her septic tank and caused a toilet in her house to explode.

Marylou Ward of Charlotte County tells television station WINK News that the sole toilet in her Port Charlotte home was shattered into hundreds of pieces on Sunday, Aug. 4.

Ward told CNN affiliate WBBH she was in the bed with her husband and three dogs during the rain and thunder, when all of a sudden they were blown out of bed.

"We got out of bed and came over here, and the toilet was laying on the floor," Ward told the station.

Ward says the explosion was the loudest sound she's ever heard, and that she also smelled smoke.

She says a plumber told her lightning hit the methane gas that was built up in the pipes from feces.

It might be terrifying to think about, but the plumbing company said this is as rare as a person getting struck by lightning.

Ward says she'll have to get the toilet and septic system repaired, but she's thankful no one was injured.

"I already sent a picture out to my kids and said, 'Don't do it!' Here's the proof why you shouldn't go near the bathroom in a thunderstorm," the couple's neighbor Charles Allen told WBBH.

The CNN Wire contributed to this report.

Shocking Video Shows Lightning Bolt Hit Rocket

Shocking video revealed what happened when a lightning bolt hit a Russian rocket on its nose just 10 seconds after launch on May 27.

The rocket that took off from Plesetsk Cosmodrome near Mirny, northern Russia was carrying a replacement navigation satellite into orbit, reported the Daily Mail.

Shortly after Roscosmos Soyuz 2-1b rocket took off, the lightning bolt was observed and measured by the spacecraft's instruments, reported the media outlet.

"During the liftoff, lightning struck the nose fairing and the third stage of the carrier rocket, which was recorded by telemetric data transmitted from the rocket to the ground-based control center," reported the Russian News Agency TASS.

A video of the launch and the lightning hitting the rocket was shared by Dmitry Rogozin, the Director of Roscosmos on Twitter.

Rogozin congratulated the Russian space scientists, saying, "Lightning is not an obstacle for you."

The rocket subsequently continued its three-and-a-half-hour journey into Earth's low-orbit and placed the satellite into orbit at the designated time.

"The launch was carried out in the normal mode. The weather is not an obstacle and we [the Space Force of Russia’s Aerospace Forces] are all-weather troops. This is yet another proof that lightning cannot damage our aerospace weapons," the spaceport’s chief said, according to TASS.

The space scientists at the Titov Main Testing Space Center of the Aerospace Forces’ Space Force have taken control of the space vehicle.

"A stable telemetric connection [was] established and maintained with the spacecraft," the Russian Ministry of Defense stated after the incident, according to the Daily Mail.

"The onboard systems of the GLONASS-M spacecraft are functioning normally," the Ministry said.

Epoch Times reporter Venus Upadhayaya contributed to this report.