(Cordova, TN) It wasn’t the wind, but lightning that heavily damaged two homes during a thunderstorm in Cordova early Friday morning.
Both homes, about a mile apart, were struck by lightning within five minutes of each other.
Shelby County Firefighters say lightning hit a home on Far Drive at around 3:30 in the morning.
A “V” shaped scorch mark on the side of the brick home is believed to be where the lightning hit.
The woman in that house heard the lightning strike, but didn’t realize her house was on fire until someone knocked on her front door.
“I didn’t see anything and so I got back in the bed and people started banging on my door and my windows telling me the house was on fire to get out, get out,” said Donna Hawkins.
Lightning also struck the back of a home on Woodland Edge Cove.
The couple in that house woke up, saw a hole in their wall and then the fire.
They were out of the home, with their dog, before firefighters got there, but nearly everything inside was destroyed by the flames.
“The difficult part was there were so many fires in the area because of lightning it took forever to get any trucks here,” said neighbor John Keller.
Firefighters from Memphis and Arlington were brought in to assist.
Around forty firefighters battled the two fires.