Strong storms rolled into the Chattanooga area Tuesday evening, causing widespread power outages. Several areas experienced ground lightning. One home was hit by lightning at 4808 Alabama Road (Ooltewah area).
The Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department responded and arrived reporting smoke pouring from the house. Fire officials reported the entire house was full of fire, but firefighters worked quickly to contain the fire within 30 minutes.
No injuries were reported, but Hamilton County EMS was on the scene for any potential injuries. The Catoosa County Fire Department and East Ridge Fire Department responded to the Tri-Community district for additional emergency calls.
Damages were listed at $75,000.
The American Red Cross responded to assist the family of six.
EPB officials said they were working as quickly as possible to restore power in areas impacted by the storms.
Spokesman John Pless said shortly after 8 p.m., "We are holding all crews over through the night and we have called in additional out of town crews (contractors) to assist. While the smart grid has automatically restored about 20,000 customers, there are about 300 active incidents with about 2,600 customers remaining to be restored.
"Because of the severity of damage due to downed trees and power lines in some locations, some customers may remain without service until Wednesday morning."
He said the largest concentration of outages initially was North Chattanooga, Red Bank and Mountain Creek.