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Lightning strikes: 'I'm lucky it didn't burn the house down'

While most people had the typical kind of rain come down in their yard Thursday night, something a little harder was falling in Joseph Viveros' Wilson Road grass.

As strong thunder and lightning storms moved through the city Thursday evening, Viveros' home was struck by lightning. His chimney took the brunt of the direct hit.

The force of the lightning strike caused his red brick chimney to explode, sending pieces of broken stone to rain down on his lawn.

The chimney used to stand about 4 feet higher than the roof of the house; now it's about 8 inches, a jagged edge the only reminder that the chimney existed.

"There's nothing left up there," Viveros said Friday morning. "It's really quite a mess.

The bricks are all over the lawn and the roof. I'm lucky it didn't burn the house down."

Viveros said he wasn't home when the lightning strike occurred but was called by neighbors, causing him to race home from his trip to Little Compton, R.I.

The bricks were still strewn across Viveros' yard early Friday afternoon. He said the debris would stay there until his insurance company could come to the house.

He said the chimney is a necessity for the house because it hooks into his oil furnace.

"I've got to have a chimney for my furnace," Viveros said.

E-mail Will Richmond of The Herald News (Fall River, Mass.) at wrichmond@heraldnews.com.