Homes in Fort Worth and McKinney sustained significant damage, with experts citing urban sprawl as a growing factor in lightning-related losses.
FORT WORTH, Texas — A blue tarp now covers what remains of a Fort Worth roof, the only protection left after a lightning strike ignited the home during Tuesday’s severe storms. Neighbors described the moment of impact as visceral and jarring.
“I could feel it radiating through me like before it hit, and I just felt this weird shaking and vibrating,” said a woman who lives a few doors down from a house that was struck by lightning Tuesday.
The neighbor said smoke billowed so heavily from the structure that she could barely see through her own window.
“It’s a random act. It can happen to anybody at any time,” she said when thinking about why her neighbor’s house was hit, and hers wasn’t.
A second Fort Worth home, located near Saginaw, also sustained a direct lightning strike Tuesday. The homeowner was away at the time, but returned to find debris piled in her bedroom from the damage.
The Fort Worth Fire Department said it responded to three house fire calls believed to be related to lightning strikes.
A third residence, in McKinney, was also struck.
“It’s not uncommon at all to have at least one or two house fires caused by lightning,” said Tom Bradshaw, Meteorologist-in-Charge with the National Weather Service office in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Bradshaw pointed to rapid development across the region as a key reason North Texas continues to see rising numbers of lightning-related damage reports.
“With urban sprawl and development here in North Texas, there are more houses crammed together in this part of Texas than ever before. Just by the luck of the draw, I think the lightning has more targets of opportunity,” said Bradshaw.
Timothy Logan, an associate professor at Texas A&M University in the Atmospheric Sciences Department, who specializes in lightning research, echoed that assessment.
Logan said meaningful protections against lightning remain limited. Some homes withstand strikes better than others, he noted, but in plain terms, the outcome often comes down to chance.
“In terms of putting lightning rods on your house, you could — just make sure everything is grounded — but there’s no guarantee that lightning would strike that house ever,” said Logan.