Lightning struck a west Lawrence home Tuesday evening during the height of a strong storm system moving across the city.

Lisa Rueschhoff found herself in for quite a shock about 5:40 p.m. Tuesday, moments after settling in to watch TV.

“We were just sitting there, turning on the news to watch the weather, when we heard the loudest thunder ever — just smashing,” she said, outside her home on Carmel Place in western Lawrence. “I thought the picture window busted out in our living room.”

Turns out lightning had struck the peak of her home, sending a bolt of electricity through the walls.

“The light switches in our dining room just shattered into our kitchen area,” she said. “They just blew apart. … It’s just amazing to me that something like this could happen.”

The home’s alarm system immediately delivered a message to the monitoring company, associated with Rueschhoff Locksmith and Security. A Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical crew was dispatched to check for problems.