Outer Banks town — notorious for lightning strikes — reports 5 in latest round

An Outer Banks village with a history of lightning strikes endured its latest round this week, with at least five hits reported between sunset and midnight, according to fire officials in North Carolina.

It happened Tuesday, June 17, in Corolla and the targets included four homes and a bumper car tourist attraction that suffered heavy damage, Corolla Fire and Rescue Chief Richard Shortway told McClatchy News.

“There was so much lightning, but this isn’t the first time,” he said. “Ten years ago, we had 14 lightning strikes in six hours. We (fire crews) were going from house to house.”

The latest round came during two storms, the first of which rolled in around 7 p.m., Shortway said.

Video shared to social media shows the Corolla Adventure Golf and Bumper Cars with flames shooting from its roof. Multiple fire and rescue departments responded, including teams for Corolla, Currituck County, Duck, Southern Shores and Kitty Hawk.

The damage was enough to shut the park down temporarily, according to a June 18 news release.

At the other four strike sites, lightning dug into wooden frames or fried wiring, but the structures did not ignite, officials said.

It’s likely more homes were hit during the storms, but the damage won’t be noticed for days because so many are unoccupied vacation rentals, Shortway said.

Coastal areas like the Outer Banks “may be at greater risk for lightning damage if storms develop over oceans and move on-shore,” Phys.org reports.

“People who live and work along coasts and coastlines everywhere may be more likely to experience a super-charged lightning strike,” the site reports. “Lightning can be much more powerful over the ocean than land.”

Corolla is about a 230-mile drive northeast from Raleigh.

This story was originally published June 18, 2025 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Outer Banks town — notorious for lightning strikes — reports 5 in latest round."