The National Weather Service reported five lightning strikes on the Peninsula Saturday night, and one such strike reportedly landed near the corner of Church and Market Streets. More than likely, since the location may be approximate, “near the corner” may just be the tallest landing spot in the area: the St. Philip’s steeple.
The steeple bells were damaged beyond repair, as were three of the four video cameras used for streaming and parts of the air conditioning units. But the damage was not limited to the church building itself. The electrical current reached the Ministries Hall (church office building), knocking out one desktop computer and three phones (and temporarily knocking out the entire phone system), along with some PoE (power over ethernet) ports and the network card of the production printer used for the inSPIRE and bulletin preparation.