{"id":141440,"date":"2026-07-23T21:03:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T21:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/141440\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T21:03:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T21:03:19","slug":"thunderstruck-lightning-strikes-sidewalk-fire-hydrant-in-north-edmonton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/141440\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunderstruck: Lightning strikes sidewalk, fire hydrant in north Edmonton"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a tumultuous summer for Edmontonians. A string of storms has left residents dealing with damage caused by not only flooding<\/a>, but lightning as well.<\/p>\n

A photo circulating on social media shows a portion of sidewalk in the area of 129 Avenue and 129 Street damaged by a lightning strike from Saturday’s storm. The approximately 50-centimetre crater is seen surrounded by scorch marks. A nearby fire hydrant was charred as well.<\/p>\n

An Epcor spokesperson confirmed in an email statement on Thursday that a crew had replaced external components of the fire hydrant that were damaged and gave it a touch-up of paint.<\/p>\n

\"Damage<\/p>\n

Damage seen to an Edmonton fire hydrant in the area of 129 Street and 129 Avenue after a lightning strike on Saturday, July 18, 2026.<\/p>\n

The damaged sidewalk was likely caused by an “abnormally strong positive lightning strike,” said Janelle Gergely, meteorologist with Environment Canada.<\/p>\n

Gergely said approximately 4,000 lightning strikes were recorded during Saturday’s storm, the majority being intracloud strikes, with only a few described as being cloud-to-ground.<\/p>\n

Some social media comments on the photo of the damaged sidewalk included the misconception that lightning will always strike the highest point in an area. While not impossible for a low-lying object to be hit by lightning, Gergely said it’s possible the lightning hit a nearby tall object and the current spread to the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

She also said the soil saturated by rainfall and the wet sidewalk could have been factors in that spot being targeted by lightning.<\/p>\n

\"Damage<\/p>\n

Damage is visible on a sidewalk along 129 Avenue near 129 Street following a lightning strike, in Edmonton, Thursday July 23, 2026.<\/p>\n

While some residents have made light of the weather event with joke signs posted around the hole, the lightning strike also serves as a reminder of the destructive forces Mother Nature wields.<\/p>\n

Environment Canada advises that you take cover when a thunderstorm erupts, because lightning injures and even kills Canadians every year.<\/p>\n

“Thirty minutes after the last roar of thunder is when it’s safe to go outside,” said Gergely.<\/p>\n

chuculak@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Related\"Area<\/p>\n

Area residents stop to look at where lightning struck a sidewalk along 129 Avenue near 129 Street, in Edmonton Thursday July 23, 2026.<\/p>\n

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.<\/a><\/p>\n

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s been a tumultuous summer for Edmontonians. A string of storms has left residents dealing with damage caused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1772,52,46116,46581,46582],"class_list":["post-141440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-david-bloom","tag-edmonton","tag-janelle-gergely","tag-lightning-strike","tag-wet-sidewalk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}