The Albany Fire Department was called to the scene of an explosion from a lightning strike Thursday at PORCO Fertilizer in West Albany, that resulted in two fuel tanks being destroyed as well as a 30-foot by 20-foot crater in the parking lot.

According to fire chief Robert Roeper, lightning struck one of the metal gas tank covers in the parking lot between PORCO and IGA.

“It could have been a lot worse than it was,” Roeper said. “According to eyewitness reports, the cover suffered a direct hit from lightning and destroyed two fuel tanks that were underground … things went everywhere.”

The storm that swept through Albany was concentrated on a narrow path, with rainfall at the Will Ed Lowhorn residence being reported about about 1.75 inches for an hour-long period, while less than a mile north, at the Kentucky Mesonet weather gathering station, just over a half-inch of rain was recorded during the same time span. Winds reaching speeds of 34 miles per hour were recorded at the mesonet site.

Saundra Poore, wife of PORCO owner Donnie Poore, said all she could see was a big ball of smoke.

“Ryan (Poore) said he smelled smoke and we couldn’t figure out where it was coming from,” Poore said. “The lightning just hit the ground and exploded the gas tanks at the service station.”

After the fire department arrived at the scene, officials noticed one of the buildings next to the gas tanks had damage to the back part of the roof.

EMS Director Lonnie Scott said it was thought to be the initial point of impact of the lightning, but after investigating, they concluded one of the covers for the gas tanks had shot up in the air and landed on the roof of the service station.

“The cover went high into the air and came through the building,” Roeper said.

When the lightning hit the cover, Poore said all she heard was thunder and a loud cracking sound.

“All I heard was a crack and a boom,” Poore said. “The main thing is that everybody was okay.”

Both tanks that were destroyed were empty according to Poore and Roeper and since the incident, all three tanks have been removed from the service station.

“It was a situation that didn’t make any sense, then I saw the hole in the ground and I could make sense of what it was,” Poore said.

Everything was back to normal Tuesday morning as employees worked to fill in the hole and smooth out the surface where the 30-foot crater was.

Also, during Thursday’s storm, Joe Clunie was working at This-N-That Tobacco in south Albany, when the storm came through the area.

He said he was standing at the drive-thru window when a lightning bolt came through and struck his credit card machine.

“If I was standing a little closer to it then I would have gotten struck,” Clunie said.

Clunie said the storm knocked out a transformer and the store was without power for the remainder of the day.

Big bang,

big hole

Emergency responders gathered around a large crater that was left in the parking lot near Ryan’s Refuel, after a lightning strike caused two in-ground fuel tanks to explode.

Although the tanks were virtually empty at the closed station, black smoke billowed into the air after the explosion, and firefighters worked for some time to extinguish the fire before being able to get a close-up look at the damage.

No injuries were reported.