SYKESVILLE, Md. — Strong summertime storms have spread throughout the country recently, some resulting in deadly flooding, like in Texas and New Mexico.
Here on the East Coast, we've experienced an increase in severe thunderstorms taking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes.
Maryland is no exception.
Tuesday night is one example where lightning strikes across the state ignited multiple fires, including at a church and pair of homes.
The Maryland State Fire Marshal reported a trio of incidents that all occurred within three-hours.
Among the major arteries hit was Maryland's Eastern Shore.
The latest happened around 7:52 last night in Kent County.
Officials say lightning struck a home on Augustine Herman Highway in Chestertown.
It took about 40 firefighters half-an-hour to get the scene under control.
The family dog needed to be taken to a vet for smoke inhalation.
Overall the fire caused an estimated $260,000 in damage.
Minutes earlier in Talbot County, lightning struck again, at Faith Chapel United Methodist Church, in Trappe.
The Fire Marshal said a bolt of lightning hit the church's stainless steel gas pipes, lighting a fire in the roof and walls of the building.
Two-dozen or so crew members knocked the flames down in 20 minutes.
Although no one was hurt, the church sustained approximately $25,000 in damage.
The shore wasn't the only part of the state impacted.
Hours beforehand, storms traveled through Carroll County.
Not long after 4:30pm a home on Obrecht Road in Sykesville was struck by lightning.
As result, the basement storage room caught fire leaving behind $100,000 in damage.
That wasn't all.
We're told lightning was the likely source of another home basement fire on Mallard Road in Baltimore County.
On July 1 St. Rita Catholic Church in Dundalk was also the victim of a fire stemming from lightning.
As of publishing, Delmarva Power reports 15 outages affecting 77 customers.
Potomac Edison, which serves portions of Frederick County, has 54 outages listed on their website.
BGE, meanwhile, has the most outages remaining, impacting 1,500 customers.
Our own meteorologists say thunderstorms are possible again tonight in various parts of Maryland.
