Lightning splits tree, breaks window Thursday morning in Joplin

A bolt of lightning split a tree and sent a branch through a window at the corner of 26th and Delaware in Joplin.

Lori Creek says the bolt struck at about 9 a.m. on Thursday morning.

“It got real dark and …. kaboom,” she says.

She says a window in the home that was broken has now been secured by carpenters but the experience brought home the reality of the force of nature.

“Stuff fell off the fireplace and pictures fell off the wall,” Creek comments.  “Half the tree just disintegrated in the air.”

She says the cypress tree was at least 70 feet tall.

“I had just come inside,” Creek says.  “I’m glad I wasn’t outside or I would have been struck by the tree limb.”

“It just shows you what lightning can do.”

Creek says the tree was about 33 years old.