One heck of a lightning storm in hillsborough
 

one huge hit At about 7:30 and multiple smaller ones -- but still big --every few seconds. Hunker down folks.

Same in Sanibel...

At least we're not in Osceola -- over 200 strikes in less than an hour last night. But this is definitely a doozy.

In Pennecamp now...

Here in Gilchrist is bad too.

Darn, now I have to reset all the clocks.....:(

Looks like a surge took out our air.

OK, Pinellas just had a hit that was less then a 10th of a second flash to thunder, way too close!!!!

We had a HUGE bolt over here in Belle Aire about 10 minutes ago. Power is out.

Our power was knocked out in Lake Deaton. Even the air conditioner was knocked out. All is good now. This was our first storm...welcome to Florida!

four fire engines and ambulance have been in and out of Santiago this evening. Not sure if a house has been hit but we are also having a lot of lightning over here

Yep, the skies were lit up in BonnyBrook !
Hope it's nothing serious in Santiago.

When we first moved here 11 years ago these are the type storms we got every afternoon.
The frequency in recent years seems less.

Tonight is a good example of why this is called the lightning capital of the world.

I bet the meteorologists report in the thousands for tonight.

We had lots of lightening and thunder here in Duval. Lights went out for about 3 seconds. Enough to have to reset the clocks. We also got 1.13 inch of rain from that storm.

Quite a storm in St. Charles. Never got a warning from the weather radio or from the Code Red Notification system.

We live in Collier. We have a surge protector on the service entrance and individual surge protectors on electronic pieces in the house. Last night, the storm toasted the surge protector for our TV and stereo equipment. No equipment damage - better to lose a $50 surge protector than our equipment.

Whole house surge protectors are not enough. Be sure to add individual surge protectors at your equipment locations.

Don

Thanks for the reminder. To the store we go today!

surge protectors didn't help my neighbor. her modem was knocked out and garage door opener not working despite both being attached to surge protectors. apparently lightning struck right outside her house

What village? We were able to reset everything except our irritation, I mean irrigation, system. $150 and we are good to go.

Sure am breathing just a "little" easier after having Triangle install lightning rods last week.

Do you know what type and gauge of wire braid they attached to the ground stakes - and how far down the ground stakes were driven?

I also have lightning rods and am not worried by lightning anymore. We had one strike no more than 30 yards from the house - onto the fairway of the golf course. Simaltaneous flash and thunder! Herbie, the Shiu-tsu, scrambled into Mrs. Trap's lap and would not move.

Me too!!! I also had a surge protection system installed earlier in the year.

I now have peace of mine knowing that I did all I could, to keep my house from being affected.

It was a doozy, as the television went out for 20 minutes.

I don't know what gauge of wire braid, but I do know the down rods are ten feet deep. Here are the specs that they use:
http://www.tlpfl.com/images/LPManual.pdf