Bright flashes of lightning and loud, booming thunder were the wake-up call for many people across our region this morning.

A series of storms moved through the area and led to a number of power outages. A local man was also struck by lightning in his own home.

A Severn township man was inside his home when he was hit, according to Seven Fire Department Capt. Trevor Storey. Storey says the man was in the laundry room when it happened.

“The wife of the victim was on the scene and did say there a bright illumination of the room and the hallway around it, of a bright white and silver light at about the time of the strike,” he says.

As the thunder storms continued to roll through, lightning strikes caused numerous power outages from Stayner to Elmvale and east into Oro-Medonte, where the power was out for most of the day.

Orland and Carolyn Carscadden drove through the rain from cottage country after a stormy night in their camper near Parry Sound. Carolyn says it was hard to sleep through all of the weather.

“Thunder, lightning, heavy, heavy downpours of rain would come and go you would think it was all over and done with and then it would start again,” she says. “The lightning continued till four or five in the morning.”

Meanwhile, numerous businesses along Highway 11 in gasoline alley were forced to close their doors this morning, which meant no gas or washroom facilities for travellers. Marilyn Allen manages a coffee shop there and says there is nothing she can do until the power comes back on.

“At 5:30 a.m., the power went out,” she says. “Everybody is driving in asking what is going on. We say the power is gone … we wish we were open too, but no we have been pretty busy with people coming in and asking. Hopefully it will be back soon.”

Some areas received more rain than others over the past 24 hours, but no flooding is expected at this point because rivers and streams were low before the storms moved through.

While crews have been working all day to get power restored, there are still a number of customers in the dark.

From Vaughan in the south all the way up to cottage country, more than 8,000 people were without power today. The Barrie area was the hardest hit – at one point nearly 6,000 people were without power. Up in cottage country, about 1,300 people are still without power. Hydro One expects the lights for those customers near Gravenhurst to be back on tomorrow.