Hopefully we are past the worst of the thunderstorm time of year... Anybody else been struck by lightning?
My house has been hit 7 times in the last month !!!!
Lost 2 PCCW routers, scorched & melted PCCW socket, 1 Mac Airport Time capsule/, 3 Light Bulbs, 2 fused & melted plugs......... external wiring damaged, & 2 x damage at PCCW "substation".
The most recent hit was with all electricity switched off & internet unplugged !............ strike came thru the internet wiring.
One hit sent a string of blue light 2' thru the wall & stopped 2' short of my chest... another.... bright lightning, huge huge thunder just outside the house... followed by big red ball of light (about 3' diameter) in the ceiling (16' high"), followed immediately by huge "grenade-like" explosion sound inside the house.

These days as soon I get a "thunderstorm warning", I watch the "Lightning Strike" density & direction.... as soon as gets close I switch all electricity off at the mains.

Anybody else been hit? Or anybody wanna photograph lightning strikes close up? - lol

Not this year. Last year I lost one computer and soon after got seriously damaged the next - the replacement. The electric pulse was induced in the tele cable. The power cable was disconnected. I disconnect both cables since then. That day I found a long queue of computers in Andy's shop.

yes, fried my landline phone. But helped me decide I don't need one anyway.

Thanks to PCCW for their third world phone system here, hanging lines from house to house and tree to tree.
They give us lousy, expensive, slow "broadband" via this jerry-built copper network that captures lightning and conducts it into our homes.
I've got a surge protector that both power and phone lines run through, but lightning is too much for it. Trashed my PC last year despite that.

Probably creating an "air gap" is the only solution; connecting all devices by wifi, even desktop PCs.
Or if not, pulling the phone lines from the modem/router.

The power lines are much safer, but in a bad storm I unplug.

Great advice once again from Alan.

I've been doing all of this for years and never lost even a modem while living on Lamma. Fused surge protection bar for power AND data, plus unplugging your modem and router during thunderstorms really works.

Except you live in an incredibly, amazingly lightning-prone place like Guy's up on a hill. Having enjoyed a great Christmas party up there I still wonder why it is the most lightning-hit place on Lamma I've ever heard of?

Anybody got similar experiences, please share!

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My daughter and I saw lightning enter Mrs Chan's shop seating area as a 5' wide vivid blue cylindrical bolt that stretched from the back to almost the ice-cream fridge. It made a peculiar bussing noise and seemed to be quivering to reach something/one/me before it vanished. We were both left speechless which is even more bizzare!

LG - spoke to the PCCW engineers... seems is a combination of the copper wires being in a high point b4 it descends to my, house.... & my proximity to the Power Station which also gets regular hits......... felt quite honoured with the first hit... was a single medium sized dark cloud in the sky... sunny & blue skies everywhere else... I felt like the chosen one... checked observatory... & sure enough... I was the only red dot on the HK map

LG... even with all power switched off from mains... I still got hit..... the strike came along the PCCW cable & melted the socket... fortunately had disconnected the wifi otherwise would have lost that as well... already lost one Airport Time Capsule