HANOVER (WBZ) ―
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A bolt of lightening lit up Almeida’s Auto Repair Shop on Washington Street in Hanover Saturday, sending a jolt through owner Scott Almeida, who was talking on a landline phone at the time.
“It’s unbelievable. I’ve never heard of it. I mean I know it happens but I never seen it before,” said Rob Hannah, Scott’s friend.
Hanover fire captain Jim Gallagher told WBZ it appears a lightning bolt hit in the back of the building, sending an electrical current inside via a water pipe. “He had an electronic device… in his other hand and the lightening passed through the telephone, through his arms to the other device. He was awake, alert and oriented and he was complaining of some tingling and some pain in his arms.”
A shop employee who did not want to be identified said she was standing right next to Almeida when he was struck. She says it was loud and fast. “Big cloud of orange… big burst of orange light. The bathrooms were blown up. All the water was out of the toilets (and there was) black everywhere. Then it was done.”
A co-worker called for help and Almeida was taken to South Shore Hospital, where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Fire officials say it’s unusual but not uncommon for people to get zapped by lightening while talking on a landline phone in a thunder storm. “Cell phones are OK, but you should not be on a landline phone during a thunder storm,” Capt. Gallagher said.
