DUNEDIN, Fla. - A Dunedin man said it was pure luck that he was outside of his SUV when a lightning strike caught the vehicle on fire while parked at his home last Friday.

What You Need To Know

  • Dan Gravelle says the lightning strike happened September 11

  • Neighbors have been stopping by to take photos of the SUV

  • Lightning can strike 5-10 miles from a storm

"I'm certain that I would've been in the truck at that time," said Dan Gravelle, 51. "I just stopped at the dryer to fold a shirt that I was going to need for that evening... heard this gunshot or crack of whip."

Gravelle said it wasn't overcast or raining when the lightning hit just before 3 p.m. on September 11.

"Just out of nowhere," he said. "It was very scary. ​

Spectrum Bay News 9's Chief Meteorologist Mike Clay said lightning can strike 5-10 miles away from a storm. Clay said NASA has even found examples of lightning hitting up to 80 miles away.

Gravelle said the lightning first struck a tall tree, it then spread to his SUV and across the street into his house.

 

 

"It took out my hearing on my left side and kind of messed with my equilibrium a little bit and I don't know if I even touched the floor going into the house," he said. "The TV went out immediately, low voltage like the firestick, cable box went out immediately. And then a few days later, the mother board on the air conditioning to the house went out."​

The Dunedin man said it took about 10 minutes before they noticed the SUV was on fire. It burned so hot that everything from the front bumper to the backseats were melted.

"Even from 75 feet away, you could feel the heat," he said. "Like you're sitting around a campfire." 

Gravelle said many people in his neighborhood have stopped to take photos and say they're surprised that lightning caused the SUV to catch on fire.

"A lot of people have come by and said, 'Hey, I thought I was safe in a car during a lightning storm?'" he said. "But with steel belt radials, there's steel in your tires now. So, you're not insulated from the road like you used to be back in the 70's." ​

Gravelle said he used to love watching storms rumble through the Bay area but now it makes his nervous. 

"The storms coming through makes me shut everything down," he said. ​"I get butterflies in the stomach now and hopefully it subsides one day​."