SOUTHBORO, MASS. (WHDH) - A man is describing the harrowing moment a lightning strike hit near his home in Southboro Tuesday, just feet away from him and his children.
Brad Robillard said he was just arriving home with his children around 5:30 p.m. when a thunderstorm blew in.
“We saw a flash, then we heard the thunder probably 10 seconds later. So I’m like, okay, it sounds like it’s, you know, 10 miles away or so,” Robillard said.
He said seconds after they got out of his truck, another bolt struck closer to where they were.
“That’s when, like, the hairs on my neck kind of stood up, and then all of a sudden ‘bang,'” he said. “It was just so loud. And I did get some ringing in my ears for a good 12 hours. It was, like, deafening.”
Robillard’s surveillance cameras captured sparks flying from his fence as thunder cracked. Another angle captured the flash of light, followed by sparks and smoke coming from his gutter. He said he believes the bolt initially hit a tree in his backyard before it reached his home.
“I think it struck there first, and then I think it probably went under the ground, picked up the fence, and then just ran along the fence,” he said.
Robillard said there is some minor damage to his gate, as well as a small burn mark near his gutter, but he and his two children are all okay.
“We’re lucky,” he said. “We’re really lucky that not only it didn’t hit my son, it didn’t hit me, or my daughter. Just really fortunate.”
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)