VIDEO: Lightning strikes 50-year-old redwood tree

LINDSAY, Calif. (KMPH) — A lightning strike shook a California neighborhood Sunday night.

Homeowner Joe Fernandez was in his backyard in Lindsay, roughly 35 feet away from his 50-year-old redwood tree. He witnessed it all.

"I saw and heard the explosion. It was an explosion; it was not lightning. It was an explosion. For me, I was in shock. I run over to my house to check on my wife,"Fernandez told KMPH.

She was OK; just in shock like her husband. It was dark when the lightning bolt hit so they weren't aware of how much damage there was until the morning.

"We realized how bad the thing strike. We're lucky that we're alive," Fernandez said. Pieces of redwood, big and small, went flying everywhere. One piece punctured the side of his home.

Miguel Chavez, from M&J Auto Repair and Smog in Lindsay, just happened to be driving nearby with a dashcam rolling and caught the lightning strike on video.

"We were just talking him and I trying to think how this piece went up instead of straight or down. That's the magnitude of the strike," Fernandez said.

Big pieces of wood are also scattered in a nearby lemon grove. Neighbors who live down the street said it felt like dynamite. Others farther away felt it, too.

"Our neighbor that lives two miles away from here, she told me she felt her house shake a little bit," Fernandez said.

With all that wood flying, Fernandez feels lucky to be alive. He escaped without even a scratch.

Fire officials responded to the lightning strike Sunday night. Firefighters discovered there was no fire and no one was hurt.