In the rankings of embarrassing insurance claims, “lightning-activated toilet explosion” has to be up there. But a Florida couple will be filing just such a claim.
The couple’s toilet exploded Sunday when lightning struck their septic tank, causing their toilet to explode, according to a USA Today report.
Marylou Ward, her husband and their three dogs were lounging in bed when they heard the explosion.
“It was the loudest noise I’ve ever heard,” Ward told WGN.
“Sure glad I wasn’t in there,” she told USA Today.
The explosion occurred when the lightning strike detonated the methane gas that had built up in the septic tank, said Jordan Hagadorn, owner of A-1 Affordable Plumbing, the company that is repairing the damage.
A-1 Affordable Plumbing wrote in a Facebook post that the toilet explosion sent “porcelain airborne like a missile.” The shattered porcelain actually penetrated the bathroom wall. Parts of the couple’s windows were also blown out by the blast, USA Today reported.
Hagadorn, a second-generation plumber, told USA Today that neither he nor his father had ever seen anything like this. He said the lightning-sparked toilet detonation may be “a first in plumbing history.”
Hagadorn also recommended that people don’t use the toilet during a thunderstorm.
The one bright spot in the story: Ward said that insurance would cover the damage.
