Lightning strike damages Fort Worth councilman's home amid deadly storms

Fire forces family out as same storm system leaves destruction and death across North Texas.

A Fort Worth city councilman is dealing with damage at his home after a lightning strike sparked a fire during a line of storms that caused widespread destruction across North Texas.

“It’s a lot to look at for sure,” said Councilmember Charlie Lauersdorf.

Lauersdorf said the strike hit over the weekend, igniting a fire in his attic.

“Just this loud crack pop, I mean, it sounded like it was on top of us. And it turned out it was on top of us,” he said.

What initially appeared manageable quickly worsened.

“I just grabbed the first towel, put it out, and thought, ' Oh, we’re good now. And apparently we were not good,'” Lauersdorf said.

Fire spread between the walls near the chimney, raising additional concerns.

“And the scariest thing about it is this is actually a gas line,” he said.

Fort Worth firefighters responded and extinguished the flames, but the home is now unlivable due to smoke damage. Lauersdorf said his wife and children are displaced and may be out of the home for months.

“We’re upset that it happened, obviously, but it could’ve been worse. And ppl are dealing with it worse out west .. exactly exactly,” he said.

That reality is playing out in other parts of North Texas, including Runaway Bay, where an EF-2 tornado caused significant damage and killed a 51-year-old man, identified as Juan Madrid.

“It was a beautiful home, and now it's destroyed,” said Rick Wanner, a tornado victim.

Wanner said he had recently put his home on the market before it was damaged.

“As you can see its destroyed. The roof’s gone, fence is all the way gone. I've got personal items from other ppl’s houses in our house now. they came through the roof,” he said.

The storms left a trail of damage across the region, with communities now facing cleanup and recovery.