Lucky escape as lightning strikes

August 1995

A TRALEE couple had a narrow escape when lightning struck their home in the early hours of Thursday morning and entered the bedroom in which they were sleeping.

Francie and Marie McSwiney, Bawnboy, were showered with debris when part of the ceiling fell on top of them shortly before 4.30am. The lightning sent a mirror in the room crashing to the ground and tore along the top of an inside wall having broken slates on its way through.

“It was just like an explosion,” Mr McSwiney told The Kerryman. “The debris was everywhere on top of us and on top of the bed. The house was in complete blackness.”

Mrs McSwiney said that she had been awake when the lightning struck and that she knew instantly what it was. She said that they were lucky that their children were not in. the house on the night as they would have got a terrible fright.

Tralee Fire Station Officer John Mason said that two units of the fire service had gone to the scene in case of fire. He said their main role was to assure the couple that they were safe.

“They were very lucky that there was no fire, given that they were directly under the hit,”Mr Mason said, adding that there was structural damage to the attic and roof.

We had one last year in Ardfert and a whole house was gutted,” he said.

A spokesman for the Meteorological Service in Dublin said that lightning was prevalent across the southern half of the country on the night and that about half an inch of rain had fallen.