Insane footage from a building in Shawnee, Oklahoma displayed the sheer force of the impact that lightning had as it struck a flagpole on May 7.
The video, shared by AccuWeather, captured the moment of impact and the large explosion of dirt that rose up as the bolt traveled down the flagpole.
BOOM ⚡️ A security camera caught the moment lightning struck a flagpole, causing dirt to explode on the sidewalk. pic.twitter.com/9Z6Xp641K4
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) May 15, 2024
The explosion could be seen dislodging bricks around the flagpole that kept the dirt in and the force of impact made an alert of sorts go off. (RELATED: Shocking Video Shows Lightning Striking Two People Dead On Mexican Beach)
The pole was located outside the Finley & Cook PLLC building, KFOR reported. The explosion did not seriously damage the building and no one was injured, the outlet noted. Finley & Cook is an accounting firm based in Shawnee, the company’s website said. Shawnee is a city that was home to 31,720 people in 2022, according to City-Data.com.
Lightning can travel 270,000 miles per hour, the United Kingdom’s Meteorological Office observed. Lightning can contain between 100 million to 1 billion volts, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “What tends to happen when lightning strikes ground is that it fuses dirt and clays into silicas. The result is often a glassy rock (called a fulgurite) in the shape of a convoluted tube,” the governmental agency said.
Oklahoma is no stranger to extreme weather events. Tornadoes killed at least four Oklahomans and left hundreds injured when they tore through the state on April 28, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Another tornado caused widespread devastation to the Oklahoman town of Barnsdall on May 5. “The states of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas regularly experience some of the most extreme weather on the planet,” the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit said.