After a lightening strike about a mile distant, we discovered that our home phone and cable internet was out. A quick look at the side revealed that the phone interface box was missing its lid, which was found about 12 feet away.
There were distinct burn marks inside the telephone box:
Even after the phone company replaced the box, the phone wouldn’t work. Checking the inside wiring closet, I found that the telephone patch panel was severely burned:
Now why did a lightening strike so far away result in so much damage? It was possible that the phone box ground (red circle) was not connected because the clamp (red arrow) had fallen away. Either that or the surge was responsible for loosening the clamp.
The latter is likely the case, as several devices connected to the cable box were also fried: cable modem, firewall, computer, Ethernet switch, laptop docking station, and KVM switch.