News Article - Salena Ann Sally (Gray) Andis

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Associated Press
WASHINGTON, Ind. — A dog hit by lightning that struck a tree and traveled through the chain that had been holding him escaped with singed fur and a wounded paw, but no serious injuries. After Sally Andis saw the bolt hit a tree near her rural southwestern Indiana home on Wednesday night, the dog was nowhere to be seen.
The lightning broke the chain, and the heat burned a ring around the tree where the chain had been fastened.
Four black paw prints were left on concrete outside the home's back door, where the dog, a beagle named Sport, had been standing.
When Ms. Andis found the dog, his fur was singed and his body felt hot. He was panting and bleeding from one paw.
A trip to the veterinarian assured the family that Sport will be OK, but Ms. Andis told the Washington Times-Herald that the dog no longer wants to leave her side.
The family's house, about eight miles south of Washington, didn't fare so well.
The lightning blew bricks 30 to 40 feet out of the home's foundation and damaged a door frame. Every appliance in the house had its cord blown out of the outlets, and the bolt left smoke outside and inside the house.
Ms. Andis, who was standing near the back door when the bolt hit, got a big scare.
“I let out a holler, and then I couldn't see anything,” she said. “The sound was really loud, and I couldn't hear out of my right ear.” Ms. Andis said she felt like she was on fire. And when she ran into the living room, her 2-year-old daughter's eyes were “as big as saucers.” Ms. Andis' sight and hearing eventually returned to normal, and the family has been living in an outbuilding while their home is repaired.
“We're all OK,” she said. “And things can be replaced.”
Cincinnati.com Enquirer
Sunday, April 28, 2002