House Fire, Other Damage Attributed To Heavy Thunderstorms

A house fire caused by lightning was reported in Wake County and another house was hit by lightning, but was not damaged.

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Lightning caused between $80,000 and $100,000 in damage when it hit a house at

9429 Cartersville Road

, which is also near I-540.

The couple who owns the house was at home at the time and managed to escape the fire, which was centered in the attic.

Charles Moredock and his wife were not able to remove any items from the house, but did take their dog before escaping.

"I went upstairs and I thought I smelled smoke and I didn't see any, so I ran outside and I didn't see any flames," Moredock said.

The fire damaged the roof and several rooms upstairs. Water damage also affected much of the rest of the house.

Another house at

12212 Inglehurst Drive

was most likely hit by lightning. The house is located near Interstate 540 in the Lynn Crossroads area. There was no visible damage from the strike.

Authorities in Person County reported some damage from heavy thunderstorms that moved through the area Thursday night.

Law enforcement officials reported several trees and power lines down in Roxboro after a line of storms moved along the North Carolina/Virginia border.

In Halifax County, there were some reports of small hail. In Granville County, there were reports of one or two trees down.

In Chatham County, there was a report of one house struck by lightning east of Siler City. The fire was under control at 9:30 p.m.

Duke Power reported 200 outages.

On Friday, storms will be more likely in the northern counties and across southern parts of Virginia.

Any of the storms could become strong or possibly even severe. Since some of the storms could be slow movers, residents could see some very heavy rain in a short period of time hence generating localized flooding.