Watch: McAllen home struck by lightning during storm

A 60-year-old McAllen resident and her daughter had to flee their home after lightning struck the roof of their house early Tuesday morning.

Sylvia Cardenas woke up to the loud sound of a lightning strike about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. She thought the sound had come from a nearby area, but didn’t know the damage was closer than she thought.

“I assumed it happened across the alley, but then I got the alert on my phone that said lightning struck 0 miles away,” Cardenas said about her home on the 1300 block of Ozark Avenue.

Everything happened within minutes, she said. About three to four minutes after the strike, the power went out at her house. A few minutes later, she heard a harsh sound almost like hail.

When she went to the window to check for hail, she began to smell smoke inside her house even though her smoke alarm had not gone off. So she ran to get her 17-year-old daughter, Rylei, and together they went outside to find the source of the smoke.

On their back porch, she saw a cloud of smoke but no fire. So they searched the perimeter of the house as they spoke to the 911 operator. It wasn’t until her daughter noticed a burning piece of wood near the AC unit that they found the source of the smoke.

On the roof above her garage was a crack and a sign of fire where lightning had struck.

By the time firefighters arrived at the scene, the roof and ceiling above the garage had caved in.

“The fire took out the attic so everything is basically gone. It pretty much caved in,” Cardenas said, adding that she never expected something like this to happen. “I’ve heard of stories like that, but I just never thought it would be me”

Despite the loss, firefighters were able to rescue her cats. Both Cardenas and her daughter were unharmed and are currently staying at a friend’s house.

“I have to focus on what is positive. I have to focus on what is right, and I’m fine, my daughter is fine, my cat is fine. My house can get replaced,” Cardenas said.