Strong to severe thunderstorms that hit parts of Massachusetts on Friday produced a lightning strike that created a 25-foot trench to a Foxboro home, leaving a elderly woman hospitalized.
Firefighters said around 4 p.m. EDT, lightning hit a tree and it imploded, which sent chunks of wood that ripped down parts of a large fence and impaled a portion of the deck.
The lightning strike then traveled across the yard while digging up a trench to the house, blasting apart the wood stairs and blowing off the gutters around the home, WHDH-TV reported.
The 74-year-old homeowner was rushed to a local hospital with chest pains, shortly after the incident. She is being monitored at a hospital, but her family said she should be okay.
No fire was reported but there was a heavy smell of smoke following the lightning strike, Fire Capt. Donald Treannie said.
At least one other home was struck by lightning as the storms moved through the area, according to fire officials. The extent of damage to that home was unknown at the time of this report.
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