Salem Fire Marshal Bill Fulton says a lightning strike to a tree off the 3200 block of Nation Road southwest of Salem Thursday afternoon is apparently responsible or blowing up a satellite receiver inside the Catheryn Smith home.
Fulton says it appears the roots of the tree were close to the satellite receiver and then followed the coax inside the home where it entered the receiver. He reports the nearby TV and nothing else appears to have been damaged.
Fulton says the lightning also blew a breaker which may have prevent additional damage.
The storm also resulted in small hail in Centralia and parts of southern Marion and northern Jefferson County.
The storm dumped 28-hundreths of an inch of rain at the Salem Water Treatment
Plant. The Centralia Water Plant received 15-hundreths of an inch of rain.
