DAKOTA COUNTY, Minn. — The Neumans were returning to their Nininger Township home after dinner Saturday when, without warning - not even a raindrop - they heard a loud noise and saw a flash of light.
"As soon as we got to the step, a lightning bolt hit the house within fifteen feet of us," homeowner Jeff Neuman said. "It completely took us all off guard."
Their Ring surveillance camera captured the flash of light before freezing and powering off. It later started working again. Still, Neuman is in talks with insurance and estimates tens of thousands of dollars in other replacements and repairs.
"It put a hole in my roof," he explained. "Garage door opener, irrigation system. My well pump went bad. A couple of TVs. The refrigerator."
The best part? No one was hurt.
"It was just amazing that we're all alive," the grandfather of three said. "I mean, it was scary but what an awesome experience because of the fact that we're alive."
The ironic part? Neuman is an electrical contractor. In 2006, he and his sister took over the family business, Merit Electric Company in St. Paul.
Neuman says his parents were with him and his wife when lightning struck.
"Right away, me and my dad were thinking, 'We better make sure there's no fire here,'" he said. "Luckily I had a thermal imaging camera. We went up in the attic and checked everything right away. You could tell it was hot there, but the difference wasn't enough to concern us."
Even stranger? This isn't the first time.
"When the house was being built it got struck worse than this one," Neuman said. "It blew like five basketball-sized holes in our roof."
Some sources say the odds of getting hit by lightning in a person's lifetime are one in one million. Others say one in 15,300. Yet this Hastings-area home has been hit twice in only five years.
Neuman says when lightning struck the first time, it was storming and no one was home.
"I don't know, I think it's just a freak of nature," Neuman said. "Just unlucky but actually we're lucky because we're still here … Third one's not a charm on this one, that's for sure."
The CDC offers indoor and outdoor lightning safety tips, including equipping your house with whole-house surge protectors to help protect appliances.