Lightning Strike Leaves 7-Foot Gash In Road After Hitting Car In Florida
By Zuri Anderson
June 16, 2021
A driver got the shock of his life while driving his SUV on Interstate-75 in South Florida earlier this week.
The Florida Highway Patrol reported that a lightning bolt struck a 2018 Nissan Rogue's antenna Monday afternoon (June 14). The intense moment happened at Mile Marker 30 in Broward County. While no one was hurt, the strike left the vehicle's electrical system damage.
“I saw a light and … I don’t know what happened,” the SUV’s driver Ernesto Delhonte told Local 10. “Wow, what is this? But I survived. I am alive. It’s a miracle for me.”
The lightning bolt also left deep mark in the road following the strike.
“The electrical impulse from the lightning damaged the electrical system of the vehicle and it discharged on the ground just beneath the vehicle where it created a 7-foot (gouge) in the asphalt of the right lane,” FHP Lt. Yanko Reyes told reporters. Delhonte's SUV came to a stop a half-mile north of where the strike happened.
This wasn't the first time a lightning strike shocked people and damaged a road in the Sunshine State. Earlier this year, two people were rushed to the hospital after a bolt struck the road and sent a chunk of it barreling through their vehicle.