Lightning strike. Featured

Yes step voltage gradient its called, there are vids of footballers collapsing due to that effect. Can be a million of more volts over a short distance!..

Yes. a lightning strike can be anything from a few volts induced surge on a nearby line, to a direct GodHatesYou strike that is instantly lethal to animal life and to most wiring.

When I lived in J'oburg, all the phones would tinkle on nearby strikes, but a direct strike would burn the house down.

I remember cuddling a gin and tonic and watching from a balcony as a strike hit the ground 50 meters in front of me, and a dull glow lit up the sky where another house was burning.

Well look up the "rolling ball" method of assessing a strike likelihood they very often come in from the side as thats to the strike, discharge rather! is coming from so the side of a church or building is a better path to ground than that pylon or mast that you might think was the better target!...

In article snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net>, Rod Speed snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com scribeth thus

It can and does in a direct full on strike it causes the wiring to act like a fuse and expand, more like explode!, and it will blow the plaster off the walls which can take a lot of time to put right seeing it might have done other damage like a possible fire!...

In article snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk>, Dave Plowman (News) snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk> scribeth thus

Yes it can if the discharge e current is strong enough and where the wiring may be on overheads..

Nearest I have been to one was to a house whose garden backed on to ours, less than 100 metres away. I was standing by our back door at the time and the effectively simultaneous flash and bang certainly made me jump. That took out some of the chimney brickwork and a good proportion of the tiles on one side of the roof. (I recognise that these are not particularly securely attached).