Thunderstorms swept through southern Maine on Wednesday afternoon and evening, with lightning striking a woman in Gorham, splintering trees in several towns, hitting a home in Cape Elizabeth and starting two fires in South Berwick.
South Berwick firefighters were battling two structure fires Wednesday night, in a garage attached to a home on Emery’s Bridge Road and a large barn on York Woods Road. Firefighters said both fires were caused by lightning strikes.
In Scarborough, police were forced to close a section of Beech Ridge Road for more than two hours after lightning struck a pine tree. The tree, which hung over the road, eventually toppled into the heavily traveled road. Beech Ridge Road was closed to traffic between Payne and Dresser roads at 3:20 p.m. It did not reopen until 5:33 p.m.
A Gorham woman was standing near her bathroom sink when a bolt of lightning hit her house and entered the bathroom, said Gorham Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre. The charge blew out a ceiling light and the woman felt a jolt of electricity. She contacted town emergency officials and was taken to the hospital to be checked out.
“She was alert and talking, but she just wasn’t feeling right,” Lefebvre said.
The lightning strike occurred at 308 Main Street in Gorham around 3 p.m. It did not set the home on fire, and the woman is expected to recover.
The Cape Elizabeth Police Department investigated the report of a home being hit by lightning on Stonegate Road around 3:30 p.m, Sgt. Eric Fay said.
The lightning strike – it’s not clear whether it hit the house or a nearby tree – caused the home’s electrical system to malfunction. The house was not set on fire and no injuries were reported.
The same thunderstorm disabled the police department’s radio system. Police were forced to use the Cape Elizabeth Fire Department’s system. The police department network will be repaired on Thursday, Fay said.
A woman from Oxford was struck by lightning Tuesday night when she stepped outside her King Street home to retrieve a child’s bicycle that had been left in the yard. She was taken to a local hospital to be checked out and has since been released.
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