None injured after Columbia lightning strike

COLUMBIA — A Columbia resident's home was struck by lightning Wednesday night in the midst of  thunderstorms that swept the state.

Josephine Phillipe's house, located in the 900 block of Eastland Circle, was hit by lightning at about 9 p.m. Firefighters were called to the scene for a reported residential structure fire. At the scene, firefighters found a visible burn mark on the exterior southwest corner of the house, but did not find a fire, according to a news release from the Columbia Fire Department.

Firefighters found several tripped circuit breakers and a light smoke haze in the basement near the fuse box. As a precaution, the Water and Light Department was called to remove the meter, which belonged to Boone Electric, from the house, the release stated.

Phillipe and another person who was in the house at the time of the strike were not injured, and the cost to repair the damage was unknown at the time of the news release. The two are temporarily staying elsewhere, the release stated.

While no one was injured in the strike, the Columbia/Boone County Office of Emergency Management's Web site states that about 100 people in the U.S. are killed by lightning every year.