Boy, 12, fears electrocution after lightning explodes tree

Mother nature shakes up a Collier County neighborhood more often than not. Families there tell WINK News they worry for their safety, even in their home when storms roll in.

There are broken windows, pieces of trees scattered over yards – all signs of mother nature leaving her mark.

Dante Magilewski was next door when splinters of a tree went flying into his neighbor’s window. Shards of glass were all over and now, their windows are boarded up. However, it did not end there.

“I just see a big light flash and everything started shaking,” Magilewski said. “I’m like, ‘I’ll probably be fine.’ But then, another one that was even bigger happened two minutes later,” Magilewski said. “Everything started shaking at that point. I’m like, ‘I need to unplug everything just in case I get electrocuted.'”

Magilewski, 12 years old, said he gets nervous when lightning hits because of the destruction it causes.

Jim Farrell, the chief meteorologist at WINK News, explains how a tree can explode.

“It boils the sap inside of the tree and that creates an explosion,” Magilewski said, “which splits the tree and sends fragments flying and in this case fracturing windows.”

Down the street, mother nature’s forced other neighbors to renovate, including Peter Stone.

“It’s been pretty crazy,” Stone said. “We had our water pump explode.”

Our Weather Authority Team said you should unplug all devices, stay out of the shower and away from windows. Lightning can get inside your home through wires and the water.

“We had to get solar panels,” Stone said, “because of thunderstorms that have been rolling through have basically been shutting it on and off.”