Lightning that accompanied a storm system that swept across North Carolina early Monday started several fires in Raleigh, authorities said.
Firefighters battled blazes in structures off Reedy Creek Road in west Raleigh and on Wilkes Street, Breckon Way and Green Road in north Raleigh, which authorities attributed to lightning strikes.
Nick Thiani stood in the rain Monday morning, telling his roommate over the phone that their Green Road apartment was in flames.
"I was asleep, but it was a really loud sound that woke me up," Thiani said of the lightning strike. "I opened my front door, and there was smoke coming out of the vents. My neighbor was outside with her kids, and I told her to get in her car and go."
Everyone escaped the apartment fire with their lives but not much else.
"If that sound didn't wake me up, then I hate to imagine what (would have happened). I don't think we would have found out until it was too late," Thiani said.
But those not affected by the lightning appreciated the morning downpour, noting the region has been in a drought for months.
"This was a good soaker," said Brendan Wein, who works at a nursery. "It's nice. I'll take it. Any day we can get rain, it's welcome."
"I don't remember the last time it rained that hard here," said Dee Swanson, who went shopping for flowers after the skies cleared. "I was looking out the window, and I couldn't even see my neighbor's house because it was raining so hard."
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