REGINA -- Northeast Regina residents were given quite the surprise Friday night during a lightning-filled thunderstorm when one bolt struck a tree in the neighbourhood.

Roselyn Veitch was watching T.V. with her husband when the bolt hit the tree in her front yard. The bolt created one crack spanning the middle of the tree facing the street and a hole in the ground directly below the tree on her lawn.

“Well it happened so fast,” said Veitch. “It was just one huge 'bang' and of course a big ball of light.”

The tree is the tallest on the block but Veitch did not know it hit her particular tree.

“[My husband] said, ‘that had to be close.’ We got up to see out the front door and we couldn’t see anything.”

Veitch also found bark and shrapnel from the tree scattered around her own and both her neighbours’ lawns. She also found a few chucks of bark in her back yard.

“I was really just surprised because I didn’t think it was our tree.”

Edna Schultz is Veitch’s neighbour. She had walked into her bedroom and happened to look out her large window at the exact moment the bolt struck.

“I saw ball of fire and the whole window lit up. Of course, the thunder was very loud,” said Schultz. “It scared me. I had never seen anything quite that close before.”

“It’s a little frightening,” said Schultz. “But it also makes you grateful that it didn’t do any more damage.”