Hail, Lightning Strike Puget Sound

A summer thunderstorm pelted parts of the Puget Sound region with heavy rain and hail Wednesday, while lightning strikes knocked one woman off her feet and started several small forest fires.

Roberta and Ken Smith of Burien were digging up potatoes in their back yard when lightning struck their tool shed and knocked Roberta Smith to the ground, KIRO-TV reported.

It sounded “just like a big dynamite explosion,” Smith told KIRO.

Roberta Smith was shaken and suffered some ringing in her ears and numbness in her feet.

Dozens of small forest fires were reported on the Olympic Peninsula after the lightning storm passed by, but fire officers said none posed an immediate threat to property. The overall fire danger is low.

The National Weather Service said hail one-half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter pounded Redmond and smaller hail hit Seattle and Port Angeles.

Seattle got four-tenths of an inch of rain in the sudden downpour, while Shelton and Friday Harbor reported about one-tenth of an inch, the Weather Service said.

Frequent lightning, some with light rain, was reported as far south as Thurston County and as far north as British Columbia.

A storm knocked out power to parts of Vancouver Island and metropolitan Vancouver, British Columbia, leaving some 77,000 people without electricity at one point, B.C. Hydro spokesman Wayne Cousins said.

Vancouver International Airport closed down its refueling operations for several hours as a precaution, delaying about 80 flights.

Hundreds of lightning strikes were recorded, touching off at least one forest fire north of Victoria.