Florida woman’s toilet explodes after septic tank gets struck by lightning

Going to the bathroom in the middle of a storm has its risks. Your toilet might explode.

It happened to a Port Charlotte couple Sunday morning when their septic tank got hit by lightning.

“We come in here and the toilet was laying on the floor,” Marylou Ward said to Wink News. “There’s all pieces everywhere. Pieces everywhere.”

Ward said it was the loudest sound she’s ever heard. Video taken by the news station shows extensive damage inside and outside her home. The force of the explosion even broke a window in her bedroom and sent yard decorations flying across the property into the street.

The couple’s plumber said the lightning hit the methane gases that had built up in the pipes from the poop, destroying all of Ward’s indoor plumbing.

While Ward’s home is going to need repairs, her insurance will cover it, WPTV reports.

Ward’s also glad no one was sitting on the toilet when it happened.

“I’m not taking any showers and not going to the bathroom ... forever. Not when it’s thunder-storming and down here, that’s a lot,” Ward told WPTV.

This story was originally published August 6, 2019 at 11:13 AM with the headline "Florida woman’s toilet explodes after septic tank gets struck by lightning."