Two lightning strikes set a mansion on fire in South Carolina and also prevented its owners from making a 911 call because the cell tower had also been hit.
The lightning hit the $1.7 million family home on Lady's Island, causing a fire to break out on the roof, People magazine reported.
Keith Guest scrambled to douse the flames while his wife and two children desperately tried to call 911, unaware that the cell tower had been destroyed by the lightning.
The family, unable to contain the fire or get through to emergency services, watched in horror as their home burned.
"I kept thinking, 'Well they'll show up any minute. They'll show up, they'll show up. I know they'll be here in 5 minutes,'" said Guest, according to WSAV. "Then 30 minutes goes by, 'Well, I know they'll be here in another 5 minutes,' and then an hour goes by and I'm thinking, 'Oh they'll be here any minute,' An hour and 15 minutes goes by... we just could not get through to them," he said.
A fireman who was on his boat on the river noticed the house in flames and assisted by calling the fire station through its direct number.
However, by the time firefighters showed up it was too late. The mansion had burned to the ground.
The mansion was built in 1928, The Island Packet noted, but now only portions of a brick wall remain standing.
"Everybody got out safe," Guest said, "So everything else after that is... nothing, right?," according to WSAV.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.