Lightning struck the main chimney of Johnson Residence Hall, one of the men’s residence halls, on Asbury University’s campus on Aug. 18.
“If it wasn’t for the flash, I would have thought that someone had driven a car into the building. The bricks that fell from three stories created a very loud crash,” said Resident Director, Evan Duszynski.
Students were in the building when the lightning hit.
“Once you spend enough time with the people living next to you in these dorms, they become like family,” said sophomore Nick Pidgorodetskiy. “And the first thought that I had when I heard the strike was whether I would die for the family.”
No one was injured, but the lightning strike caused a portion of the chimney to break off, resulting in bricks plummeting from the third floor into the parking lot. The bricks that were knocked loose fell to the parking lot, where some landed on nearby cars, causing damage.
“My good friend Alex Whitaker had a brick fall through his car’s back windshield,” said Pidgorodetskiy. “His car had major water damage due to the hole created.”
As soon as the lightning struck the chimney, the fire alarm immediately sounded and everyone in the dorm building was evacuated for an hour as the Wilmore fire department examined the scene. While the damage was being investigated, the men of Johnson were moved to Hughes Auditorium.
Asbury’s physical plant and security also arrived to help clean up the damage and ensure that everyone was safe. There was no interior damage, but debris did fall into the Johnson air conditioning system, resulting in a lack of air conditioning in the Johnson building for half a day.
Asbury University was not the only area affected by the storm, according to Emergency Management crews, as numerous trees fell on power lines and surrounding buildings in Jessamine County.
