What to Do When Your Commercial Property Experiences Damages from Lightning

1/6/2022 (Permalink)

Lightning strikes near a group of buildings in a city during a storm.

A commercial building structure is susceptible of experiencing storm damages at least once during its lifetime of being in business.

Business owners often take precautions against the wind and rain brought in by an oncoming storm. However, lightning poses a particular risk to small and large businesses—and since it travels over 100,000 miles per hour, your business can be damaged in the blink of an eye.

Lightning is simply a giant spark that moves within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. As lightning passes through the air, it heats the air rapidly to about 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This causes a rapid expansion of the air along the lightning channel. This rapid expansion causes a shock wave that we hear as thunder.

One of the most common damages a building can endure is a fire from being struck by a bolt of lightning. A lightning strike can spark a fire upon contact with almost anything it touches, causing significant damage in a matter of minutes. In addition, this incident can leave a substantial amount of smoke damage to walls and flooring or water damage from firefighting efforts.

When this occurs, the first step is to contact your insurance agent to start the claim process then call on the fire and water damage restoration experts. Our SERVPRO of San Marcos/New Braunfels team will respond immediately to get you back to business to make things "Like it never even happened."