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News

Photos: Gnarly Lightning Storm Wreaks Havoc

Carman Tse
Published Jun 30, 2015 11:00 PM

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Tuesday was a wild summer day across Southern California, as a summer storm brought lightning across Los Angeles and Silver Lake was left in the dark overnight.

As expected, a storm rolled through Los Angeles late Tuesday afternoon and lightning was spotted all the way from Long Beach to the South Bay.

Lifeguards briefly closed Los Angeles County beaches around 4:45 pm and cleared out everyone that had come for relief from the muggy heat. They were reopened about an hour and a half later, according to KTLA.

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Thankfully the storm wasn't as dangerous or as deadly as the strike at Venice Beach last year that killed an incoming USC student, but one strike left a scorched hole in the sidewalk outside the Torrance DMV and also sent a security guard who stood nearby to the hospital after he fell ill.

In Silver Lake, a power outage Tuesday night left over 20,000 customers in the dark after a vault exploded on the 600 block of North Hoover Street. Although state officials are kindly asking you to turn down your AC just a bit to take a little pressure off the power grid, a DWP spokesman told the L.A. Times, "These [vaults] can blow up for any multitude of reasons."

12,000 customers had their power back by 10:45 p.m., while the remaining 8,000 or so customers in Silver Lake and Westlake had their power restored around 4 a.m.

Although the rest of the week should bring us a little relief from yesterday's madness, there's still a chance of rain that should last until Thursday.

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In California, the storm stretched as far south as San Diego:

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