Lightning wakes the dead

A lightning strike all but wakened the dead at the South Road Cemetery on Independence Day, frying the electrical system serving the facility and literally blowing holes in the office building on the site.

Bob LeMay of the South Road Cemetery Association said that the lightning struck a transformer on the utility line running along the southwest side of the road. "It must not have been properly grounded," he said.

The current passed through the pump house near the southeast corner of the cemetery, blowing the cap off the controls to the storage tank inside. LeMay speculated that from the pump house the current ran northward along the cable carrying power to the maintenance shed and office building at the northeast corner of the cemetery, a distance of about 100 yards. It passed through the shed then followed the cable ten yards to the office, where it blew out the wall where the conduit entered the building then raced around the building, punching holes in the siding at each of its four corners. The charge went to ground and spent itself at the northwest corner of the building, shattering the concrete block it stood on, tossing the shards thirty yards into the cemetery and scarring the lawn.

The inside of the building was strewn with shreds of sheetrock and pieces of the electrical outlet.

Tim Hayes said that he was mowing the grounds on Saturday when the skies darkened around 12:30 p.m. "I left and when I came back to finish on Sunday after church I saw the damage when dumped the first load of cuttings," he said. "There were pieces of concrete thrown 60 feet."

LeMay said that the cemetery sits on the highest point of land in town and a dense stand of old field pines shading the buildings has often felt the lash of lightning. "But, we've never had anything like this," he said.

LeMay could only guess at the cost of the damage, but questioned whether the private association that owns and manages it would have the cash on hand to meet even the deductible on its insurance policy. "Put our address in your story," he said. "South Road Cemetery Association, P.O. Box 138, Belmont, NH 03220. We may need all the donations we can get."